Chiral hedgehog textures in 2D XY-like ordered domains

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the textures around point defects in 2D XY-like ordered domains, revealing a new topological classification and explaining the emergence of chiral textures due to spontaneous symmetry breaking.

Contribution

It introduces a new radial topological number for classifying defect textures and explains the stability of reversing spiral chiral textures in achiral systems.

Findings

Identification of a new radial topological number

Classification of stable and metastable reversing spiral textures

Chiral textures arise from spontaneous symmetry breaking

Abstract

The textures associated with a point defect centered in a circular domain of a thin film with XY-like ordering have been analyzed. The family of equilibrium textures, both stable and metastable, can be classified by a new radial topological number in addition to the winding number of the defect. Chiral textures are supported in an achiral system as a result of spontaneously broken chiral symmetry. Among these chiral textures, our theoretical analysis accurately describes two categories of recently discovered ``reversing spiral'' textures, ones that are energetically stable and metastable.