Versatile Strain-Tuning of Modulated Long-Period Magnetic Structures

Abstract

We report a detailed small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) study of the skyrmion lattice phase of MnSi under compressive and tensile strain. In particular, we demonstrate that tensile strain applied in the skyrmion lattice plane, perpendicular to the magnetic field, acts to destabilize the skyrmion lattice phase. This experiment was enabled by our development of a versatile strain cell, unique in its ability to select the application of either tensile or compressive strain in-situ by using two independent helium-actuated copper pressure transducers, whose design has been optimized for magnetic SANS on modulated long-period magnetic structures and vortex lattices, and is compact enough to fit in common sample environments, such as cryostats and superconducting magnets.

5 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Skyrmion fractionalization and merons in chiral magnets with easy-plane anisotropy
• Fluctuation-induced first-order phase transition in Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya helimagnets
• Magnetic phase diagram of MnSi inferred from magnetization and ac susceptibility
• Uniaxial pressure dependence of magnetic order in MnSi

Cited by in corpus (11)

• Skyrmion lattice creep at ultra-low current densities
• Extended exchange interactions stabilize long-period magnetic structures in Cr${}_{1/3}$NbS${}_2$
• Tensile deformations of the magnetic chiral soliton lattice probed by Lorentz transmission electron microscopy
• Piezoelectric-driven uniaxial pressure cell for muon spin relaxation and neutron scattering experiments
• Anisotropic magneto-crystalline coupling of the skyrmion lattice in MnSi
• Nonlinear emergent elasticity and structural transitions of skyrmion crystal under uniaxial distortion
• Increasing the skyrmion stability in Cu${}_2$OSeO${}_3$ by chemical substitution
• Giant enhancement of the skyrmion stability in a chemically strained helimagnet
• Topological energy barrier for skyrmion lattice formation in MnSi
• In-situ uniaxial pressure cell for X-ray and neutron scattering experiments
• Comparison of skyrmion phases between poly and single-crystal MnSi by composite magnetoelectric method