2018/10/07 by Qingjun Tong, Fei Liu, Jiang Xiao +1 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b03315
published as Nano Letters 18, 7194 (2018) · 15 pages, 4 figures, to appear on Nano Letters
arxiv created 2018/10/07 · arxiv updated 2018/12/13
We explore the skyrmion formation and control possibilities in 2D magnets from the ubiquitous moiré pattern in vdW heterostructures. Using the example of a ferromagnetic monolayer on an antiferromagnetic substrate, we demonstrate a new origin of skyrmions in the 2D magnets, from the lateral modulation of interlayer magnetic coupling by the locally different atomic registries in moiré. The moiré skyrmions are doubly degenerate with opposite topological charge, and trapped at an ordered array of sites with the moiré periodicity that can be dramatically tuned by strain and interlayer translation. At relatively strong interlayer coupling, the ground states are skyrmion lattices, where magnetic field can switch the skyrmion vorticity and location in the moiré. At weak interlayer coupling limit, we find metastable skyrmion excitations on the ferromagnetic ground state that can be deterministically moved between the ordered moiré trapping sites by current pulses. Our results point to potential uses of moiré skyrmions both as information carriers and as drastically tunable topological background of electron transport.