Magneto-Crystalline Composite Topological Defects and Half-Hopfions

Abstract

We consider a new class of topological defects in chiral magnetic crystals such as FeGe and MnSi. These are composite topological defects that arise when skyrmions in the magnetic order intersect with twin boundaries in the underlying crystalline lattice. We show that the resulting stable configurations are a new type of defect that can be viewed as half-hopfions.