2021/02/22 by Wuzhang Fang, Aldo Raeliarijaona, Po-Hao Chang +3 · 25 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Materials and Mechanics #Antiferromagnetism #Condensed matter physics #Magnetic properties of thin films #Materials science #Physics #Skyrmion #Theoretical and Computational Physics #cond-mat.mes-hall #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevmaterials.5.054401
published in Physical Review Materials 5(5) (American Physical Society) · 11 pages, 10 figures
arxiv created 2021/02/22 · openalex publication_date 2021/05/04 · arxiv updated 2021/05/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
We study realizations of spirals and skyrmions in two-dimensional antiferromagnets with a triangular lattice on an inversion-symmetry-breaking substrate. As a possible material realization, we investigate the adsorption of transition-metal atoms (Cr, Mn, Fe, or Co) on a monolayer of MoS2, WS2, or WSe2 and obtain the exchange, anisotropy, and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction parameters using first-principles calculations. Using energy minimization and parallel-tempering Monte Carlo simulations, we determine the magnetic phase diagrams for a wide range of interaction parameters. We find that skyrmion lattices can appear even with weak Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions, but their stability is hindered by magnetic anisotropy. However, a weak easy plane magnetic anisotropy can be beneficial for stabilizing the skyrmion phase. Our results suggest that Cr/MoS2, Fe/MoS2, and Fe/WSe2 interfaces can host spin spirals formed from the 120^\ensuremath∘ antiferromagnetic states. Our results further suggest that for interfaces, such as Fe/MoS2, the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction is strong enough to drive the system into a three-sublattice skyrmion lattice in the presence of experimentally feasible external magnetic field.