Ferrichiral skyrmions with sublattice-resolved chirality in extended Kitaev model in triangular lattice

TL;DR

This paper uncovers a novel ferrichiral skyrmion phase with sublattice-resolved chirality in an extended Kitaev model on a triangular lattice, driven by frustrated exchange interactions without external fields.

Contribution

It demonstrates the existence of a stable ferrichiral skyrmion phase in a classical spin model, revealing a new mechanism for skyrmion formation driven by frustration and anisotropic interactions.

Findings

Ferrichiral skyrmion phase emerges at zero temperature without external magnetic fields.

The phase is stable over a wide parameter range and persists at relatively high temperatures.

Sublattice-resolved scalar chirality distinguishes the ferrichiral skyrmion phase.

Abstract

We study an extended Kitaev model on the triangular lattice in a limit where the symmetric off-diagonal bond-dependent and Heisenberg interactions together map onto an XXZ model, in addition to the Kitaev interaction. Within the previously identified $\mathbb{Z}_2$ vortex regime, we uncover a ferrichiral skyrmion phase characterized by a sublattice-resolved scalar chirality: two of the three sublattices carry unit skyrmion charge, while the third remains nonchiral. Using classical Monte Carlo simulations, we show that this ferrichiral skyrmion phase emerges at zero temperature and in the absence of both an external magnetic field and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions, in sharp contrast to conventional skyrmion-hosting systems. The phase is stable over a wide parameter window and persists to relatively high temperatures. Our results reveal an unconventional route to skyrmion physics driven purely by frustrated exchange interactions and highlight the emergence of rich topological structures. Since both XXZ anisotropy and Kitaev interactions originate from the same spin-orbit-coupling mechanism, materials traditionally classified as XXZ magnets are expected to host finite Kitaev interactions as well. The potential for ferrichirality in these systems therefore warrants further investigation.