Spontaneous antiferromagnetic skyrmion/antiskyrmion lattice and spiral spin liquid states in the frustrated triangular lattice

Abstract

Magnetic skyrmions are topological quasiparticles of great interest for data storage applications because of their small size, high stability, and ease of manipulation via electric current. Antiferromagnetic (AF) skyrmions, with new features and huge benefits (ultra-small skyrmion sizes, no transverse deflection and efficient manipulation), have recently become the subject of intense focus. Here we show that a spontaneous antiferromagnetic skyrmion/antiskyrmion lattice (AF-SkL/ASkL) emerges in the classical Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the triangular-lattice under magnetic fields, taking only exchange interactions up to third nearest neighbors ($J_1$-$J_2$-$J_3$). By means of the Luttinger-Tisza approximation and large scale Monte-Carlo simulations (combining Parallel-Tempering and overrelaxation with the Metropolis algorithm), we present a rich $J_2$-$J_3$ magnetic phase diagram including exotic multiple-q phases, degenerate states and a spontaneous AF-SkL/ASkL lattice at intermediate magnetic fields. In addition, we show that at zero magnetic field, exotic spin liquid states with ring-like degeneracy emerge at intermediate temperatures, which are broken by thermal fluctuations selecting different multiple-q states. These findings greatly enrich the research on antiferromagnetic skyrmions in centrosymmetric materials or lattices including relatively weak Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction.

11 pages, 5 figures - Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B

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• Noncoplanar orders and quantum disordered states in maple-leaf (anti)ferromagnets
• Frustration-induced magnetic bimerons in transition metal halide CoX2 (X = Cl, Br) monolayers
• Suppression of the skyrmion Hall effect in synthetic ferrimagnets with gradient magnetization
• A spin model for intrinsic antiferromagnetic skyrmions on a triangular lattice
• From chiral spin liquids to skyrmion fluids and crystals, and their interplay with itinerant electrons
• Robustness of topological magnons in disordered arrays of skyrmions
• Observation of the spiral spin liquid in a triangular-lattice material
• Frustration-driven topological textures on the honeycomb lattice: antiferromagnetic meron-antimeron and skyrmion crystals emerging from spiral spin liquids
• Chiral magnetic phases in Moire bilayers of magnetic dipoles
• Spin-orbit coupled Hubbard skyrmions
• Thermal Hall effect and gauge-field picture of magnons in antiferromagnetic skyrmion crystals
• Probing Random-Bond Disorder Effects on Ferromagnetic Skyrmion Arrays
• The Finite-Temperature Behavior of a Triangular Heisenberg Antiferromagnet
• Codimension-Two Spiral Spin-Liquid in the Effective Honeycomb-Lattice Compound Cs${}_3$Fe${}_2$Cl${}_9$
• Interplay of electric and magnetic fields in skyrmion phases of the classical Heisenberg model on a square lattice
• Chiral and Clock phases in Twisted Dipolar Clusters
• Classification of magnon thermal Hall systems based on U(1) to non-Abelian gauge fields