Square skyrmion crystal in centrosymmetric systems with locally inversion-asymmetric layers

TL;DR

This study demonstrates the stabilization of a square skyrmion crystal in centrosymmetric layered systems through a layer-dependent Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, revealing new pathways for exotic topological spin textures.

Contribution

It introduces a mechanism for stabilizing square skyrmion crystals in centrosymmetric systems via staggered Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions in layered structures.

Findings

Square skyrmion crystal stabilized by layer-dependent Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction.

Formation of a double-Q state with scalar chirality in low magnetic fields.

Skyrmion crystals with different helicities in each layer due to staggered interactions.

Abstract

We investigate an instability toward a square-lattice formation of magnetic skyrmions in centrosymmetric layered systems. By focusing on a bilayer square-lattice structure with the inversion center at the interlayer bond instead of the atomic site, we numerically examine the stability of the square skyrmion crystal based on an effective spin model with the momentum-resolved interaction in the ground state through the simulated annealing. As a result, we find that a layer-dependent staggered Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction built in the lattice structure becomes the origin of the square skyrmion crystal in an external magnetic field irrespective of the sign of the interlayer exchange interaction. The obtained square skyrmion crystal is constituted of the skyrmion crystals with different helicities in each layer due to the staggered Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. Furthermore, we show that the interplay between the staggered Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and the interlayer exchange interaction gives rise to a double-$Q$ state with a uniform component of the scalar chirality in the low-field region. The present results provide another way of stabilizing the square skyrmion crystal in centrosymmetric magnets, which will be useful to explore further exotic topological spin textures.