Observation of distorted tilted conical phase at the surface of a bulk chiral magnet with resonant elastic x-ray scattering

Abstract

We report on various magnetic configurations including spirals and skyrmions at the surface of the magnetic insulator Cu${}_2$OSeO${}_3$ at low temperatures with a magnetic field applied along <100> using resonant elastic X-ray scattering (REXS). We observe a well-ordered surface state referred to as a distorted tilted conical spiral (TC) phase over a wide range of magnetic fields. The distorted TC phase shows characteristic higher harmonic magnetic satellites in the REXS reciprocal space maps. Skyrmions emerge following static magnetic field cycling and appear to coexist with the distorted TC phase. Our results indicate that this phase represents a distinct and stable surface state that does not disappear with field cycling and persists until the field strength is increased sufficiently to create the field-polarized state.

References in corpus (10)

• Long wavelength helimagnetic order and skyrmion lattice phase in Cu2OSeO3
• Electric field-induced Skyrmion distortion and giant lattice rotation in the magnetoelectric insulator Cu2OSeO3
• Observation of two independent skyrmion phases in a chiral magnetic material
• Surface sensitivity of the spin Seebeck effect
• Low spin wave damping in the insulating chiral magnet Cu${}_2$OSeO${}_3$
• Thermodynamic evidence of a second skyrmion lattice phase and tilted conical phase in Cu${}_2$0SeO${}_3$
• Microwave spectroscopy of the low-temperature skyrmion state in Cu2OSeO3
• Field-induced reorientation of helimagnetic order in Cu${}_2$OSeO${}_3$ probed by magnetic force microscopy
• Chiral surface spin textures in Cu${}_2$OSeO${}_3$ unveiled by soft x-ray scattering in specular reflection geometry
• Imaging magnetic spiral phases, skyrmion clusters, and skyrmion displacements at the surface of bulk Cu${}_2$OSeO${}_3$

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Helical spin dynamics in Cu${}_2$OSeO${}_3$ as measured with small-angle neutron scattering
• Riemannian geometric classification and emergent phenomena of magnetic textures