Skyrmion crystal under $D_{3h}$ point group: Role of out-of-plane Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction

TL;DR

This paper theoretically explores how out-of-plane Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions influence the formation and stability of skyrmion crystals in noncentrosymmetric magnets with $D_{3h}$ symmetry, revealing conditions for their stabilization.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed phase diagram showing skyrmion crystal stability under different magnetic field orientations and out-of-plane DM interactions, highlighting new stabilization mechanisms.

Findings

Skyrmion crystals are stabilized by out-of-plane DM interactions under in-plane magnetic fields.

Additional easy-axis anisotropy stabilizes skyrmions under out-of-plane magnetic fields.

Multiple-Q states may emerge due to out-of-plane DM interactions.

Abstract

The Dzyaloshinkii-Moriya (DM) interaction that originates from relativistic spin-orbit coupling in noncentrosymmetric magnets is a source of topological spin textures. We theoretically investigate the possibility of a skyrmion crystal by focusing on the role of the out-of-plane DM interaction that is different from the polar- and chiral-type DM interaction. By performing the simulated annealing for a spin model on a triangular lattice belonging to the $D_{3h}$ point group, we construct low-temperature magnetic phase diagrams in an applied magnetic field. As a result, we find the instability toward different skyrmion crystals under in-plane and out-of-plane magnetic fields, where the key ingredients to stabilize the SkX are different according to the magnetic field direction; the SkX is stabilized under the out-of-plane DM interaction for the in-plane magnetic field, while it is stabilized by additionally introducing an easy-axis anisotropy for the out-of-plane magnetic field. We also discuss the possible multiple-$Q$ states other than the skyrmion crystals in the presence of the out-of-plane DM interaction. Our result indicates that noncentrosymmetric magnetic materials with the out-of-plane DM interaction are potential candidates to host the skyrmion crystals.