Stacking-dependent nonreciprocal transport in magnetic skyrmions

TL;DR

This paper theoretically demonstrates that the stacking arrangement of skyrmion crystals in layered magnets can induce nonlinear nonreciprocal transport phenomena without relying on spin-orbit coupling, highlighting stacking as a new control parameter.

Contribution

It reveals that ABC-stacking skyrmion crystals can produce out-of-plane nonreciprocal transport solely through stacking-induced band asymmetry, a novel mechanism in topological spin textures.

Findings

ABC-stacking induces out-of-plane nonreciprocal transport

Nonreciprocal transport arises from stacking-induced band asymmetry

Effective spin model stabilizes ABC-stacking skyrmions

Abstract

I theoretically propose an emergence of nonlinear nonreciprocal transport in centrosymmetric magnets with topological spin textures. By focusing on the stacking degree of freedom of the skyrmion crystals on a layered triangular lattice, I find that the ABC-stacking structure of the skyrmion crystals gives rise to out-of-plane nonreciprocal transport without the relativistic spin-orbit coupling. I show that such nonreciprocal transport is caused by an asymmetric band modulation due to the stacking structure, where the scalar chirality across the layers is a key ingredient. I also show an effective spin model to stabilize the ABC-stacking skyrmion structure. The present results indicate that the stacking structure of the skyrmion crystal becomes a source of further intriguing transport properties.