Increasing the skyrmion stability in Cu${}_2$OSeO${}_3$ by chemical substitution

Abstract

The cubic chiral helimagnets with the $P{2}_{1}3$ space group represent a group of compounds in which the stable skyrmion-lattice state is experimentally observed. The key parameter that controls the energy landscape of such systems and determines the emergence of a topologically nontrivial magnetic structures is the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI). Chemical substitution is recognized as a convenient instrument to tune the DMI in real materials and has been successfully utilized in studies of a number of chiral magnets, such as MnSi, FeGe, MnGe, and others. In our study, we applied small-angle neutron scattering to investigate how chemical substitution influences the skyrmionic properties of an insulating helimagnet Cu${}_2$OSeO${}_3$ when Cu ions are replaced by either Zn or Ni. Our results demonstrate that the DMI is enhanced in the Ni-substituted compounds (Cu,Ni)${}_2$OSeO${}_3$, but weakened in (Cu,Zn)${}_2$OSeO${}_3$. The observed changes in the DMI strength are reflected in the magnitude of the spin-spiral propagation vector and the temperature stability of the skyrmion phase.

10 pages, 5 figures, accepted in PRB

References in corpus (13)

• Spontaneous Skyrmion Ground States in Magnetic Metals
• Long wavelength helimagnetic order and skyrmion lattice phase in Cu2OSeO3
• Formation and rotation of skyrmion crystal in the chiral-lattice insulator Cu2OSeO3
• Observation of two independent skyrmion phases in a chiral magnetic material
• Giant generic topological Hall resistivity of MnSi under pressure
• Symmetry breaking, slow relaxation dynamics, and topological defects at the field-induced helix reorientation in MnSi
• Magnetic relaxation phenomena in the Chiral Magnet Fe${}_{1-x}$Co${}_x$Si: An ac susceptibility study
• Reorientations, relaxations, metastabilities and multidomains of skyrmion lattices
• Extended skyrmion lattice scattering and long-time memory in the chiral magnet Fe${}_{1-x}$Co${}_x$Si
• Dissipation processes in the insulating skyrmion compound Cu2OSeO3
• Effect of Negative Pressure on the Prototypical Itinerant Magnet MnSi
• Hidden quantum phase transition in Mn${}_{1-x}$Fe${}_x$Ge: evidence brought by small-angle neutron scattering
• Exploring the origins of the Dzyalloshinski-Moria interaction in MnSi

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Anisotropic fractal magnetic domain pattern in bulk Mn${}_{1.4}$PtSn
• Pinning of Helimagnetic Phase Transitions in Zn-Substituted Skyrmion Host Cu${}_2$OSeO${}_3$
• Robust metastable skyrmions with tunable size in the chiral magnet FePtMo${}_3$N