No Arabic abstract
Magnetic skyrmions are topological spin textures that can be used as information carriers for the next-generation information storage and processing. The electric-field controlling of skyrmions in such devices is essential but remains technologically challenging. Here, using the first-principles calculation and the Ginzburg-Landau theory, we propose a reliable process for writing and deleting skyrmions by electric fields, on the platform of a multiferroic heterostructure, particularly the $text{Cr}_{2}text{Ge}_{2}text{Te}_{6} $/$ text{In}_{2}text{Se}_{3} $ heterostructure. We show that the electric field controls the electric polarization and indirectly influences the antisymmetric Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) between the magnetic moments. The latter is responsible for the generation and removal of the skyrmion spin textures, and we study this mechanism by the Ginzburg-Landau analysis. We discuss the real-space Berry curvature, topological Hall effects, possible quantum anomalous Hall effect, and other competing magnetic structures. These results represent examples of quantum technology and may have potential applications in future skyrmionics and the device fabrication.
The Skyrme-particle, the $skyrmion$, was introduced over half a century ago and used to construct field theories for dense nuclear matter. But with skyrmions being mathematical objects - special types of topological solitons - they can emerge in much broader contexts. Recently skyrmions were observed in helimagnets, forming nanoscale spin-textures that hold promise as information carriers. Extending over length-scales much larger than the inter-atomic spacing, these skyrmions behave as large, classical objects, yet deep inside they are of quantum origin. Penetrating into their microscopic roots requires a multi-scale approach, spanning the full quantum to classical domain. By exploiting a natural separation of exchange energy scales, we achieve this for the first time in the skyrmionic Mott insulator Cu$_2$OSeO$_3$. Atomistic ab initio calculations reveal that its magnetic building blocks are strongly fluctuating Cu$_4$ tetrahedra. These spawn a continuum theory with a skyrmionic texture that agrees well with reported experiments. It also brings to light a decay of skyrmions into half-skyrmions in a specific temperature and magnetic field range. The theoretical multiscale approach explains the strong renormalization of the local moments and predicts further fingerprints of the quantum origin of magnetic skyrmions that can be observed in Cu$_2$OSeO$_3$, like weakly dispersive high-energy excitations associated with the Cu$_4$ tetrahedra, a weak antiferromagnetic modulation of the primary ferrimagnetic order, and a fractionalized skyrmion phase.
We report the observation of a quantum anomalous Hall effect in twisted bilayer graphene showing Hall resistance quantized to within .1% of the von Klitzing constant $h/e^2$ at zero magnetic field.The effect is driven by intrinsic strong correlations, which polarize the electron system into a single spin and valley resolved moire miniband with Chern number $C=1$. In contrast to extrinsic, magnetically doped systems, the measured transport energy gap $Delta/k_Bapprox 27$~K is larger than the Curie temperature for magnetic ordering $T_Capprox 9$~K, and Hall quantization persists to temperatures of several Kelvin. Remarkably, we find that electrical currents as small as 1~nA can be used to controllably switch the magnetic order between states of opposite polarization, forming an electrically rewritable magnetic memory.
Synthesis of new materials that can host magnetic skyrmions and their thorough experimental and theoretical characterization are essential for future technological applications. The $beta$-Mn-type compound FePtMo$_3$N is one such novel material that belongs to the chiral space group $P4_132$, where the antisymmetric Dzyaloshinkii-Moriya interaction is allowed due to the absence of inversion symmetry. We report the results of small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) measurements of FePtMo$_3$N and demonstrate that its magnetic ground state is a long-period spin helix with a Curie temperature of 222~K. The magnetic field-induced redistribution of the SANS intensity showed that the helical structure transforms to a lattice of skyrmions at $sim$13~mT at temperatures just below $T_{text C}$. Our key observation is that the skyrmion state in FePtMo$_3$N is robust against field cooling down to the lowest temperatures. Moreover, once the metastable state is prepared by field cooling, the skyrmion lattice exists even in zero field. Furthermore, we show that the skyrmion size in FePtMo$_3$N exhibits high sensitivity to the sample temperature and can be continuously tuned between 120 and 210~nm. This offers new prospects in the control of topological properties of chiral magnets.
The atomic-level vdW heterostructures have been one of the most interesting quantum material systems, due to their exotic physical properties. The interlayer coupling in these systems plays a critical role to realize novel physical observation and enrich interface functionality. However, there is still lack of investigation on the tuning of interlayer coupling in a quantitative way. A prospective strategy to tune the interlayer coupling is to change the electronic structure and interlayer distance by high pressure, which is a well-established method to tune the physical properties. Here, we construct a high-quality WS2/MoSe2 heterostructure in a DAC and successfully tuned the interlayer coupling through hydrostatic pressure. Typical photoluminescence spectra of the monolayer MoSe2 (ML-MoSe2), monolayer WS2 (ML-WS2) and WS2/MoSe2 heterostructure have been observed and its intriguing that their photoluminescence peaks shift with respect to applied pressure in a quite different way. The intralayer exciton of ML-MoSe2 and ML-WS2 show blue shift under high pressure with a coefficient of 19.8 meV/GPa and 9.3 meV/GPa, respectively, while their interlayer exciton shows relative weak pressure dependence with a coefficient of 3.4 meV/GPa. Meanwhile, external pressure helps to drive stronger interlayer interaction and results in a higher ratio of interlayer/intralayer exciton intensity, indicating the enhanced interlayer exciton behavior. The first-principles calculation reveals the stronger interlayer interaction which leads to enhanced interlayer exciton behavior in WS2/MoSe2 heterostructure under external pressure and reveals the robust peak of interlayer exciton. This work provides an effective strategy to study the interlayer interaction in vdW heterostructures, which could be of great importance for the material and device design in various similar quantum systems.
We present results from an experimental study of the equilibrium and non-equilibrium transport properties of vanadium oxide nanobeams near the metal-insulator transition (MIT). Application of a large electric field in the insulating phase across the nanobeams produces an abrupt MIT and the individual roles of thermal and non-thermal effects in driving the transition are studied. Transport measurements at temperatures ($T$) far below the critical temperature ($T_c$) of MIT, in several nanoscale vanadium oxide devices, show that both $T$ and electric field play distinctly separate, but critical roles in inducing the MIT. Specifically, at $T << T_c$ electric field dominates the MIT through an avalanche-type process, whereas thermal effects become progressively critical as $T$ approaches $T_c$.