New type of stable particlelike states in chiral magnets

Phys Rev Lett. 2015 Sep 11;115(11):117201. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.117201. Epub 2015 Sep 11.

Abstract

We present a new type of thermodynamically stable magnetic state at interfaces and surfaces of chiral magnets. The state is a soliton solution of micromagnetic equations localized in all three dimensions near a boundary, and it contains a singularity but nevertheless has finite energy. Both features combine to form a quasiparticle state for which we expect unusual transport and dynamical properties. It exhibits high thermal stability and thereby can be considered as a promising object for fundamental research and practical applications in spintronic devices. We identified the range of existence of such particlelike states in the thickness dependent magnetic phase diagram for helimagnet films and analyzed its stability in comparison with the isolated skyrmion within the conical phase. We provide arguments that such a state can be found in different B20-type alloys, e.g., Mn_{1-x}Fe_{x}Ge, Mn_{1-x}Fe_{x}Si, Fe_{1-x}Co_{x}Si.