Magnetic Skyrmions in Atomic Thin CrI${}_3$ Monolayer

Abstract

In this letter, we report the visualization of topologically protected spin textures, in the form of magnetic skyrmions, in recently discovered monoatomic-thin two-dimensional CrI${}_3$. By combining density functional theory and atomistic spin dynamic simulation, we demonstrate that an application of out-of-plane electric field to CrI${}_3$ lattice favors the formation of sub-10 nm skyrmions at 0 K temperature. The spin texture arises due to a strong correlation between magneto-crystalline anisotropy, Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and the vertical electric field, whose shape and size could be tuned with the magnetic field. Such finding will open new avenues for atomic-scale quantum engineering and precision sensing.

18 pages; 4 figures

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Spontaneous magnetic skyrmions in single-layer CrInX3(X=Te, Se)
• Magnetization textures in twisted bilayer 2D CrX${}_3$ (X=Br, I)
• Strain and electric-field control of spin-spin interactions in monolayer CrI${}_3$
• Strong Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction in Monolayer CrI${}_3$ on Metal Substrates
• Modulation of skyrmionic magnetic textures in two-dimensional vdW materials and their heterostructures