Emergent skyrmion-based chiral order in zero-field Heisenberg antiferromagnets on the breathing kagome lattice

Abstract

We show that classical Heisenberg antiferromagnets on the breathing kagome lattice can be a platform to realize a zero-field topological order of the scalar spin chirality which can be viewed as a miniature skyrmion crystal (SkX) of discrete form with a small number of spins in its magnetic unit cell. In the model, a third nearest-neighbor (NN) antiferromagnetic interaction along the bond direction $J_3$ and the breathing bond-alternation characterized by the ratio of the NN interaction for large triangles to that for small ones, $J_1^{\prime }/J_1$, are essential. It is found by means of Monte Carlo simulations that a commensurate triple-$\mathbf{Q}$ state appearing for relatively strong $J_3$ at zero field is the noncoplanar state with the SkX structure in the breathing case of $J_1^{\prime }/J_1\ne 1$, while in the uniform case of $J_1^{\prime }/J_1=1$, it is a collinear state favored by thermal fluctuations. The origin of this chiral order and experimental implications of our result are also discussed.

6 pages 3 figures + 5 pages 5 figures

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• Low-Energy Excitations of Skyrmion Crystals in a Centrosymmetric Kondo-Lattice Magnet: Decoupled Spin-Charge Excitations and Nonreciprocity
• Square skyrmion crystal in centrosymmetric systems with locally inversion-asymmetric layers
• Noncoplanar orders and quantum disordered states in maple-leaf (anti)ferromagnets
• Hedgehog lattice and field-induced chirality in breathing-pyrochlore Heisenberg antiferromagnets
• Stability of Skyrmion Crystal Phase in Centrosymmetric Distorted Triangular-Lattice Antiferromagnets
• Skyrmion crystal under $D_{3h}$ point group: Role of out-of-plane Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction
• Molecular Orbital Electronic Instability in the van der Waals Kagome Semiconductor Nb${}_3$Cl${}_8$: Exploring Future Directions
• Zero-field miniature skyrmion crystal and chiral domain state in breathing-kagome antiferromagnets
• Spontaneous chirality selection and nonreciprocal spin wave in breathing-kagome antiferromagnets at zero field
• Topological magnons in a non-coplanar magnetic order on the triangular lattice