The influence of film thickness and uniaxial anisotropy on in-plane skyrmions: Numerical investigations of the phase space of chiral magnets

TL;DR

This study uses numerical methods to explore how film thickness and uniaxial anisotropy influence the stability and phase space of in-plane skyrmions in chiral magnetic thin films, revealing complex phase structures and potential experimental directions.

Contribution

It provides a detailed numerical analysis of the phase space of magnetic textures in thin-film chiral magnets, highlighting the effects of anisotropy and thickness on skyrmion stability and topology.

Findings

Phase space exhibits rich structures influenced by system parameters.

Certain anisotropy values disconnect the stability regions of skyrmions and helicoids.

Optimal parameter ranges identified for exploring novel magnetic textures.

Abstract

The equilibrium phase space of magnetic textures in thin-films of cubic chiral ferromagnets, including skyrmions, is explored as a function of in-plane magnetic field strength, film thickness and uniaxial anisotropy. The interplay between these system parameters is found to give rise to a phase space with a rich structure, distinct from that of the nano-stripes that have been previously studied. For certain values of the anisotropy, the range of thicknesses supporting in-plane skyrmions and/or helicoids with an out-of-plane propagation vector is found to be disconnected, suggesting a possible direction for future experiments. We explain how this interesting phase space topology arises due to the geometric confinement of the thin-film system, and identify the optimal parameter ranges for future explorations of novel magnetic textures such as the oblique spiral phase.