# Bound states of skyrmions and merons near the Lifshitz point

## TL;DR

This paper investigates topological defects like skyrmions and merons in anisotropic ferromagnets near the Lifshitz point, revealing their stability, interactions, and potential for forming bound states, with implications for frustrated magnets.

## Contribution

It demonstrates the stability and interactions of skyrmions and merons near the Lifshitz point, including the formation of bound states and deconfinement of fractional charges.

## Key findings

- Skyrmions attract and form ring-shaped bound states in zero magnetic field.
- Merons become deconfined at the Lifshitz point.
- Topological excitations can exist in weakly frustrated magnets.

## Abstract

We study topological defects in anisotropic ferromagnets with competing interactions near the Lifshitz point. We show that skyrmions and bi-merons are stable in a large part of the phase diagram. We calculate skyrmion-skyrmion and meron-meron interactions and show that skyrmions attract each other and form ring-shaped bound states in a zero magnetic field. At the Lifshitz point merons carrying a fractional topological charge become deconfined. These results imply that unusual topological excitations may exist in weakly frustrated magnets with conventional crystal lattices.