Tunable skyrmion crystals and topological quantum oscillations in magnetic metals

Sopheak Sorn, Stefan Divic, and Arun Paramekanti
Phys. Rev. B 100, 174411 – Published 8 November 2019

Abstract

Skyrmions are spatially localized magnetic swirls which carry a nonzero integer topological charge. We study crystals of skyrmions in a two-dimensional ferromagnet model with chiral interactions induced by the presence of broken inversion symmetry. We show that nonlinear quartic mode-coupling terms allowed by symmetry enhance the Zeeman-field range over which the skyrmion-crystal phase remains stable. Furthermore, it leads to a significant dependence of the lattice constant of this spin crystal over this wide field range. Conduction electrons coupled to such a tunable spin crystal are shown to experience a Berry-flux density which varies with the Zeeman field. Such tunable skyrmion crystals provide a distinct realization of a Berry-Hofstadter butterfly, resulting in a phenomenon we term “topological quantum oscillations” in the electronic density of states and associated observables.

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  • Received 25 October 2018
  • Revised 24 September 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.100.174411

©2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Sopheak Sorn, Stefan Divic, and Arun Paramekanti*

  • Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A7, Canada

  • *arunp@physics.utoronto.ca

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Issue

Vol. 100, Iss. 17 — 1 November 2019

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