2012/12/24 by F. N. Rybakov, A. B. Borisov, A. N. Bogdanov · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.str-el #nlin.PS
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.87.094424
published as Phys. Rev. B 87, 094424 (2013)
arxiv created 2012/12/24 · arxiv updated 2013/04/08
A direct three-dimensional minimization of the standard energy functional shows that in thin films of cubic helimagnets chiral skyrmions are modulated along three spatial directions. The structure of such 3D skyrmions can be thought of as a superposition of conical modulations along the skyrmion axis and double-twist rotation in the perpendicular plane. Numerical solutions for chiral modulations demonstrate that 3D skyrmion lattices and helicoids are thermodynamically stable in a broad range of applied magnetic fields. Our results disclose a basic physical mechanism underlying the formation of skyrmion states recently observed in nanolayers of cubic helimagnets.