On the geometry of magnetic Skyrmions on thin films

TL;DR

This paper explores the geometry of magnetic Skyrmions on curved thin films, providing exact solutions on specific geometries and proving the existence of multi-Skyrmion configurations on general compact films.

Contribution

It generalizes the critically coupled Skyrmion model to curved thin films and constructs the moduli space of multi-Skyrmion solutions.

Findings

Exact Skyrmion solutions on spherical, conical, and cylindrical films.

Axially symmetric solutions on cylindrical films are described by kinks.

Existence of energy-minimizing multi-Skyrmion solutions on general compact films.

Abstract

We study the recently introduced 'critically coupled' model of magnetic Skyrmions, generalising it to thin films with curved geometry. The model feels keenly the extrinsic geometry of the film in three-dimensional space. We find exact Skyrmion solutions on spherical, conical and cylindrical thin films. Axially symmetric solutions on cylindrical films are described by kinks tunnelling between 'vacua'. For the model defined on general compact thin films, we prove the existence of energy minimising multi-Skyrmion solutions and construct the (resolved) moduli space of these solutions.