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arXiv · 2204.01430

Fermi-surface origin of skyrmion lattices in centrosymmetric rare-earth intermetallics

Juba Bouaziz·Eduardo Mendive-Tapia·Stefan Blügel·Julie B. Staunton
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Abstract

We show from first-principles that barrel-shaped structures within the Fermi surface of the centrosymmetric intermetallic compounds GdRu$_2$Si$_2$ and Gd$_2$PdSi$_3$ give rise to Fermi surface nesting, which determines the strength and sign of quasi-two-dimensional Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida pairwise exchange interactions between the Gd moments. This is the principal mechanism leading to their helical single-$q$ spin-spiral ground states, providing transition temperatures and magnetic periods in good agreement with experiment. Using atomistic spin-dynamic simulations, we draw a direct line between the subtleties of the three-dimensional Fermi surface topology and the stabilization of a square skyrmion lattice in GdRu$_2$Si$_2$ at applied magnetic fields as observed in experiment.

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Juba Bouaziz, Eduardo Mendive-Tapia, Stefan Blügel, Julie B. Staunton. 2022-04-04. Fermi-surface origin of skyrmion lattices in centrosymmetric rare-earth intermetallics. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.128.157206

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