Complex magnetism of the two-dimensional antiferromagnetic Ge2F: from a N\'eel spin-texture to a potential antiferromagnetic skyrmion

TL;DR

This study uses density functional theory to analyze the magnetic properties of a 2D Ge2F material, revealing complex antiferromagnetic behaviors, Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions, and the potential for stabilizing antiferromagnetic skyrmions under magnetic fields.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed theoretical prediction of complex magnetism and skyrmion stabilization in fluorine-doped germanene, highlighting the role of DMI and magnetic frustration in 2D materials.

Findings

Néel state is most stable with in-plane magnetic moments.

Strong Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction induces magnetic frustration.

Magnetic fields can stabilize spin-spirals and antiferromagnetic skyrmions.

Abstract

Based on density functional theory combined with low-energy models, we explore the magnetic properties of a hybrid atomic-thick two-dimensional (2D) material made of Germanene doped with fluorine atoms in a half-fluorinated configuration (Ge2F). The Fluorine atoms are highly electronegative, which induce magnetism and break inversion symmetry, triggering thereby a finite and strong Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI). The magnetic exchange interactions is of antiferromagnetic nature among the first, second and third neighbors, which leads to magnetic frustration. The N\'eel state is found to be the most stable state, with magnetic moments lying in the surface plane. This results from the out-of-plane component of the DMI vector, which seems to induce an effective in-plane magnetic anisotropy. Upon application of a magnetic field, spin-spirals and antiferromagnetic skyrmions can be stabilized. We conjecture that this can be realized via magnetic exchange fields induced by a magnetic substrate. To complete our characterization, we computed the spin-wave excitations and the resulting spectra, which could be probed via electron energy loss spectroscopy, magneto-Raman spectroscopy or scanning tunneling spectroscopy.