arXiv subjects

F. A. Gómez Albarracín

Publications and source records attributed to F. A. Gómez Albarracín.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Skyrmion and meron phases induced by spin-phonon coupling

In chiral magnets, magnetic skyrmions are typically stabilized by the competition between exchange and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interactions under an external magnetic field, while the role of lattice degrees of freedom has received comparatively less attention. Here we study how spin-phonon (SP) coupling modifies magnetic interactions and the resulting spin textures in a two-dimensional skyrmion model in the square lattice. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we compare two simplified models describing the SP coupling: the Einstein site-phonon (ESP) and bond-phonon (BP) models. Integrating the lattice degrees of freedom, we obtain effective Hamiltonians for each SP model, which involve three-spin interactions and quadratic terms. In both cases, skyrmion crystals are stabilized in field regimes that are topologically trivial in the uncoupled model. Moreover, in certain regimes, the conventional triple-$\qv$ hexagonal skyrmion lattice is distorted into a double-$\qv$ square skyrmion lattice. Additionally, we find that, in the ESP model, strong phonon coupling affecting the exchange interactions drives the system from typical low-field helical phases to meron-antimeron crystals with no net chirality. Overall, our results show that lattice effects provide a simple mechanism to tune a wide variety of topological magnetic phases, ranging from typical skyrmion crystals to distorted arrangements of skyrmions, elongated bimerons and meron-antimeron phases.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Interplay of electric and magnetic fields in skyrmion phases of the classical Heisenberg model on a square lattice

Magnetic skyrmions, topologically stable spin textures, have attracted significant interest due to their potential applications in information storage and processing. They are typically stabilized by the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in the presence of a magnetic field and can be manipulated by electric fields in magnetoelectric systems. Here we investigate, using Monte Carlo simulations, the behavior of skyrmions in a classical Heisenberg magnetoelectric model on the square lattice under combined magnetic and electric fields. We analyze spin and dipolar textures, structure factors, magnetization, chirality, and polarization for different field directions and magnitudes, identifying ferromagnetic, ferroelectric, spiral, skyrmion crystal, skyrmion gas, and bimeron phases, as well as the field-induced transitions between them. We find that the competition between electric and magnetic fields can destroy or transform skyrmion lattices into skyrmion-gas or bimeron phases. While magnetic fields induce chiral phases even in the presence of an electric field, electric fields strongly reshape the chiral region and deform skyrmion textures. This reciprocal influence between magnetic and electric orders reflects the intrinsic magnetoelectric coupling characteristic of multiferroic materials. Specifically, we observe the simultaneous sudden growth in magnetization with a switch-off in the polarization, typically observed in experiments. In this context, localized magnetoelectric entities, such as skyrmions carrying electric quadrupoles, exemplify the intertwined nature of spin and charge degrees of freedom, providing a microscopic basis for the control of topological states in ME systems and their potential use in spintronic applications.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2025

Frustration-driven topological textures on the honeycomb lattice: antiferromagnetic meron-antimeron and skyrmion crystals emerging from spiral spin liquids

Skyrmions -- topologically nontrivial magnetic quasi-particles -- can emerge in two-dimensional chiral magnets due to moderate or high strength of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction. In this work, we show that the inclusion of weak next-nearest-neighbor DM interaction in the frustrated $J_1$-$J_2$ honeycomb-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet leads to the emergence of field-induced incommensurate antiferromagnetic meron-antimeron pairs and antiferromagnetic skyrmion structures. Using the Luttinger-Tisza approximation and large-scale Monte Carlo simulations, we report that for lower frustration values, antiferromagnetic meron-antimeron pair crystal and gas phases emerge within a small magnetic field window. In these meron phases, the fundamental unit consists of a meron-antimeron pair residing on different sublattices of the honeycomb lattice, even in the gas phase, where they exhibit greater mobility. For larger frustration, a two-layer-like three-sublattice antiferromagnetic skyrmion crystal phase is stabilized over a wider magnetic field range. At lower temperatures, this region splits into two distinct antiferromagnetic skyrmion phases with skyrmions of different sizes, reflecting the influence of frustration and thermal effects on the stabilization of these topological textures. Interestingly, both meron and skyrmion low-temperature phases connect to spiral spin liquid phases of the honeycomb lattice at higher temperatures. Additionally, we analyze the emergent single-$q$ and double-$q$ phases at low temperatures, constructing a comprehensive phase diagram.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Unsupervised machine learning for the detection of exotic phases in skyrmion phase diagrams

Undoubtedly, machine learning techniques are being increasingly applied to a wide range of situations in the field of condensed matter. Amongst these techniques, unsupervised techniques are especially attractive, since they imply the possibility of extracting information from the data without previous labeling. In this work, we resort to the technique known as anomaly detection to explore potential exotic phases in skyrmion phase diagrams, using two different algorithms: Principal Component Analysis and Convolutional Autoencoder (CAE). First, we train these algorithms with an artificial dataset of skyrmion lattices constructed from an analytical parametrization, for different magnetizations, skyrmion lattice orientations, and skyrmion radii. We apply the trained algorithms to a set of snapshots obtained from Monte Carlo simulations for three ferromagnetic skyrmion models: two with in-plane Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DMI) in the triangular and kagome lattices, and one with an additional out of plane DMI in the kagome lattice. Then, we compare the root mean square error (RMSE) and the binary cross entropy between the input and output snapshots as a function of the external magnetic field and temperature. We find that the RMSE and its variance in the CAE case may be useful to not only detect exotic low temperature phases, but also to differentiate between the characteristic low temperature orderings of a skyrmion phase diagram (helical, skyrmions and ferromagnetic). Moreover, we apply the skyrmion trained CAE to two antiferromagnetic models in the triangular lattice, one that gives rise to antiferromagnetic skyrmions, and the pure exchange antiferromagnetic case. Despite the predictably larger RMSE, we find that, even in these cases, RMSE is also an indicator of different orderings and the emergence of particular features, such as the well-known pseudo-plateau in the pure exchange case.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Probing Random-Bond Disorder Effects on Ferromagnetic Skyrmion Arrays

In this work, we examined the impact of disorder in a ferromagnetic skyrmion lattice by introducing random-bond disorder based on two different models for both exchange and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions: Model I, where both interactions present the same disorder distribution and thus the same local distortion, and Model II, where both interactions have different disorder distributions. Through extensive Monte Carlo simulations, we explored the effect of bond disorder on the emergent phases induced by an external magnetic field at different temperatures, varying the disorder amplitude across a range from weak (10%) to strong (200%) regimes. Our study shows that for both models, moderate disorder at low magnetic fields breaks the helical order and induces a topologically non-trivial bimeron phase. We also found that the skyrmion lattice phase loses its periodicity, but surprisingly, the resulting phases retain topological characteristics up to high disorder amplitudes. Moreover, a significant difference between both disorder models is found at large magnetic fields: while in the first model, the high-field skyrmion phase is suppressed by disorder, in the second model, this phase is enhanced and expanded in temperature and magnetic field. Furthermore, for the second model, intermediate values of disorder induce a diluted skyrmion phase and chiral textures emerging from the ferromagnetic phase at low temperatures. Our results are relevant for layered magnets and provide valuable insights into the intricate behavior of skyrmion systems under varying disorder conditions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

From chiral spin liquids to skyrmion fluids and crystals, and their interplay with itinerant electrons

The physics of skyrmions, and in particular the issue of how to isolate and manipulate them individually, is a subject of major importance nowadays in the community of magnetism. In this article we present an in-depth extension of a study on this issue that was recently proposed by some of the authors [H. D. Rosales, et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{130}, 106703 (2023)]. More precisely, we analyse the competition between skyrmions and a chiral spin liquid in a model on the kagome lattice. We first present an analytical overview of the low-energy states using the Luttinger-Tisza approximation. We then study the effect of thermal fluctuations thanks to large-scale Monte-Carlo simulations, and explore the entire parameter space with a magnetic field $B$, in-plane $D^{xy}$ and out-of-plane $D^z$ Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions. While skyrmions and the chiral spin liquid live in different regions of the parameter space, we show how to bring them together, stabilizing a skyrmion fluid in between; a region where the density of well-defined skyrmions can be tuned before obtaining an ordered phase. We investigate in particular the melting of the skyrmion solid. Our analysis also brings to light a long-range ordered phase with Z$_3$ symmetry. At last, we initiate the study of this rich magnetic background on conduction electrons that are coupled to the local spins. We study how the different chiral magnetic textures stabilized in this model (skyrmion solid, liquid and gas and chiral spin liquid) induce a topological Quantum Hall effect. We observe in the ordered skyrmion phase the appearance of Landau levels which persist even in the skyrmion-liquid regime and gradually disappear as the skyrmion density decreases to form a gas.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2023

Magnetic ground state and perturbations of the distorted kagome Ising metal TmAgGe

We present the magnetic orders and excitations of the distorted kagome intermetallic magnet TmAgGe. Using neutron single crystal diffraction we identify the propagation vectors $\bf{k}$ = (1/2 0 0) and $\bf{k}$ = (0 0 0) and determine the magnetic structures of the zero-field and magnetic field-induced phases for $H$ along the $a$ and [-1 1 0] crystal directions. We determine the experimental magnetic field-temperature ($H$, $T$)-phase diagram and reproduce it by Monte-Carlo simulations of an effective spin exchange Hamiltonian for one distorted kagome layer. Our model includes a strong axial single-ion anisotropy and significantly smaller exchange couplings which span up to the third-nearest neighbours within the layer. Single crystal inelastic neutron scattering (INS) measurements reveal an almost flat, only weakly dispersive mode around 7 meV that we use alongside bulk magnetization data to deduce the crystal-electric field (CEF) scheme for the Tm$^{3+}$ ions. Random phase approximation (RPA) calculations based on the determined CEF wave functions of the two lowest quasi-doublets enable an estimation of the interlayer coupling that is compatible with the experimental INS spectra. No evidence for low-energy spin waves associated to the magnetic order was found, which is consistent with the strongly Ising nature of the ground state.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Chiral multiple-q and skyrmion phases induced by Rashba-Hund interactions in the kagome lattice

Engineering non trivial topological phases in materials, specially skyrmion-like arrangements, has been of great interest in the last decade due to its potential technological applications. In this work, we study a model of electrons coupled to a magnetic texture in the kagome lattice interacting with magnetic moments via Rashba spin orbit coupling in the large Hund interaction limit. We obtain the effective spin Hamiltonian and study the emergent low temperature phases under an external magnetic field using large scale Monte Carlo simulations. We show that strong geometric frustration, characteristic of the kagome lattice, and the competition between the effective exchange, antisymmetric and anisotropic couplings, gives rise to a large variety of non-trivial topological phases. On the one hand, for antiferromagnetic exchange coupling a pseudo-antiferromagnetic skyrmion crystal is stabilized for a broad range of parameters. As the exchange coupling gets smaller, chiral single-q and double-q phases emerge. On the other hand, in the ferromagnetic case, even though the competition of the different interactions produce a series of exotic textures, a remarkable parallel may be drawn with the pure ferromagnetic model with antisymmetric interactions. Finally, for the special case where the exchange coupling is completely suppressed, we show that, coming from a higher temperature cooperative paramagnet, an "umbrella-like" plaquette order with semiextensive degeneracy is induced by the external magnetic field.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Spontaneous antiferromagnetic skyrmion/antiskyrmion lattice and spiral spin liquid states in the frustrated triangular lattice

Magnetic skyrmions are topological quasiparticles of great interest for data storage applications because of their small size, high stability, and ease of manipulation via electric current. Antiferromagnetic (AF) skyrmions, with new features and huge benefits (ultra-small skyrmion sizes, no transverse deflection and efficient manipulation), have recently become the subject of intense focus. Here we show that a spontaneous antiferromagnetic skyrmion/antiskyrmion lattice (AF-SkL/ASkL) emerges in the classical Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the triangular-lattice under magnetic fields, taking only exchange interactions up to third nearest neighbors ($J_1$-$J_2$-$J_3$). By means of the Luttinger-Tisza approximation and large scale Monte-Carlo simulations (combining Parallel-Tempering and overrelaxation with the Metropolis algorithm), we present a rich $J_2$-$J_3$ magnetic phase diagram including exotic multiple-q phases, degenerate states and a spontaneous AF-SkL/ASkL lattice at intermediate magnetic fields. In addition, we show that at zero magnetic field, exotic spin liquid states with ring-like degeneracy emerge at intermediate temperatures, which are broken by thermal fluctuations selecting different multiple-q states. These findings greatly enrich the research on antiferromagnetic skyrmions in centrosymmetric materials or lattices including relatively weak Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Machine learning techniques to construct detailed phase diagrams for skyrmion systems

Recently, there has been an increased interest in the application of machine learning (ML) techniques to a variety of problems in condensed matter physics. In this regard, of particular significance is the characterization of simple and complex phases of matter. Here, we use a ML approach to construct the full phase diagram of a well known spin model combining ferromagnetic exchange and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interactions where topological phases emerge. At low temperatures, the system is tuned from a spiral phase to a skyrmion crystal by a magnetic field. However, thermal fluctuations induce two types of intermediate phases, bimerons and skyrmion gas, which are not as easily determined as spirals or skyrmion crystals. We resort to large scale Monte Carlo simulations to obtain low temperature spin configurations, and train a convolutional neural network (CNN), taking only snapshots at specific values of the DM couplings, to classify between the different phases, focusing on the intermediate and intricate topological textures. We then apply the CNN to higher temperature configurations and to other DM values, to construct a detailed magnetic field-temperature phase diagram, achieving outstanding results. We discuss the importance of including the disordered paramagnetic phases in order to get the phase boundaries, and finally, we compare our approach with other ML algorithms.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Anisotropy driven response of skyrmion lattice in MnSc$_2$S$_4$ to applied magnetic fields

We theoretically and experimentally study the stability of the unconventional fractional antiferromagnetic skyrmion lattice (AF-SkL) in Mn$_2$S$_4$ spinel under magnetic fields applied along the $[$1-10$]$ crystal direction. By performing numerical Monte Carlo simulations for the minimal effective spin model that we proposed in Ref. [S. Gao, et al., Nature 586, 37-41 (2020)], we show that the skyrmion lattice is aligned within the equivalent and symmetric $[$1-11$]$ or $[$1-11$]$ planes, which are equally inclined to the applied magnetic field. We attribute this behavior to the magnetic anisotropy of the host material. Neutron single crystal diffraction presents a very good agreement with the predictions of the effective model. It reveals that the topological spin texture gets destabilized at low temperatures and moderate magnetic fields and is replaced by a conical phase for B// $[$1-10$]$. The present study elucidates the central role of the magnetic anisotropy in the stabilization of antiferromagnetic skyrmionic states.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Chiral phase transition and thermal Hall effect in an anisotropic spin model on the kagome lattice

We present a study of the thermal Hall effect in the extended Heisenberg model with $XXZ$ anisotropy in the kagome lattice. This model has the particularity that, in the classical case, and for a broad region in parameter space, an external magnetic field induces a chiral symmetry breaking: the ground state is a doubly degenerate $q=0$ order with either positive or negative net chirality. Here, we focus on the effect of this chiral phase transition in the thermal Hall conductivity using Linear-Spin-Waves theory. We explore the topology and calculate the Chern numbers of the magnonic bands, obtaining a variety of topological phase transitions. We also compute the magnonic effect to the critical temperature associated with the chiral phase transition ($T_c^{SW}$). Our main result is that, the thermal Hall conductivity, which is null for $T>T_c^{SW}$, becomes non-zero as a consequence of the spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking at low temperatures. Therefore, we present a simple model where it is possible to "switch" on/off the thermal transport properties introducing a magnetic field and heating or cooling the system.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Fractional antiferromagnetic skyrmion lattice induced by anisotropic couplings

Magnetic skyrmions are topological solitons with a nanoscale winding spin texture that hold promise for spintronics applications. Until now, skyrmions have been observed in a variety of magnets that exhibit nearly parallel alignment for the neighbouring spins, but theoretically, skyrmions with anti-parallel neighbouring spins are also possible. The latter, antiferromagnetic skyrmions, may allow more flexible control compared to the conventional ferromagnetic skyrmions. Here, by combining neutron scattering and Monte Carlo simulations, we show that a fractional antiferromagnetic skyrmion lattice with an incipient meron character is stabilized in MnSc$_2$S$_4$ through anisotropic couplings. Our work demonstrates that the theoretically proposed antiferromagnetic skyrmions can be stabilized in real materials and represents an important step towards implementing the antiferromagnetic-skyrmion based spintronic devices.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Field-induced pseudo-skyrmion phase in the antiferromagnetic kagome lattice

We study the effects of an in-plane Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction under an external magnetic field in the highly frustrated kagome antiferromagnet. We focus on the low-temperature phase diagram, which we obtain through extensive Monte-Carlo simulations. We show that, given the geometric frustration of the lattice, highly non trivial phases emerge. At low fields, lowering the temperature from a cooperative paramagnet phase, the kagome elementary plaquettes form non-coplanar arrangements with non-zero chirality, retaining a partial degeneracy. As the field increases, there is a transition from this "locally chiral phase" to an interpenetrated spiral phase with broken $\mathcal{Z}_{3}$ symmetry. Furthermore, we identify a quasi-skyrmion phase in a large portion of the magnetic phase diagram, which we characterize with a topological order parameter, the scalar chirality by triangular sublattice. This pseudo-skyrmion phase (pSkX) consists of a crystal arrangement of three interpenetrated non-Bravais lattices of skyrmion-like textures, but with a non-(fully)-polarized core. The edges of these pseudo-skyrmions remain polarized with the field, as the cores are progressively canted. Results show that this pseudo-skyrmion phase is stable up to the lowest simulated temperatures, and for a broad range of magnetic fields.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

From frustrated magnetism to spontaneous Chern insulators

We study the behaviour of electrons interacting with a classical magnetic background via a strong Hund coupling. The magnetic background results from a Hamiltonian which favours at low temperature the emergence of a phase with non-zero scalar chirality. The strong Hund's coupling combined with the total chirality of the classical spins induces in the electrons an effective flux which results in the realisation of a band structure with non zero Chern number. First, we consider as a magnetic background a classical spin system with spontaneous net chirality. We study the Density of States (DoS) and Hall conductance in order to analyse the topological transitions, as a function of the Fermi energy and the temperature of the classical spins. We also study a similar model in which the Chern number of the filled bands can be "tuned" with the external magnetic field, resulting in a topological insulator in which the direction of the chiral edge mode can be reverted by reversing the orientantion of the magnetic field applied to the classical magnetic system.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Phase transitions, order by disorder and finite entropy in the Ising antiferromagnetic bilayer honeycomb lattice

We present an analytical and numerical study of the Ising model on a bilayer honeycomb lattice including interlayer frustration and coupling with an external magnetic field. First, we discuss the exact $T=0$ phase diagram, where we find finite entropy phases for different magnetisations. Then, we study the magnetic properties of the system at finite temperature using complementary analytical techniques (Bethe lattice), and two types of Monte-Carlo algorithms (Metropolis and Wang-Landau). We characterize the phase transitions and discuss the phase diagrams. The system presents a rich phenomenology: there are first and second order transitions, low-temperature phases with extensive degeneracy, and order-by-disorder state selection.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2017

Degenerate and chiral states in the extended Heisenberg model in the kagome lattice

We present a study of the low temperature phases of the antiferromagnetic extended classical Heisenberg model in the kagome lattice, up to third nearest neighbors. First, we focus on the degenerate lines in the boundaries of the well-known staggered chiral phases. These boundaries have either semi-extensive or extensive degeneracy, and we discuss the partial selection of states by thermal fluctuations. Then, we study the model under an external magnetic field on these lines and in the staggered chiral phases. We pay particular attention to the highly frustrated point, where the three exchange couplings are equal. We show that this point can me mapped to a model with spin liquid behavior and non-zero chirality. Finally, we explore the effect of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interactions in two ways: an homogeneous and a staggered DM interaction. In both cases, there is a rich low temperature phase diagram, with different spontaneously broken symmetries and non trivial chiral phases.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Long range interactions in antiferromagnetic quantum spin chains

We study the role of long range dipolar interactions on antiferromagnetic spin chains, from the classical $S\to \infty$ limit to the deep quantum case $S=1/2$, including a transverse magnetic field. To this end, we combine different techniques such as classical energy minima, classical Monte Carlo, linear spin waves, bosonization and DMRG. We find a phase transition from the already reported dipolar ferromagnetic region to an antiferromagnetic region for high enough antiferromagnetic exchange. Thermal and quantum fluctuations destabilize the classical order before reaching magnetic saturation in both phases, and also close to zero field in the antiferromagnetic phase. In the extreme quantum limit $S=1/2$, extensive DMRG computations show that the main phases remain present with transition lines to saturation significatively shifted to lower fields, in agreement with the bosonization analysis. The overall picture keeps close analogy with the phase diagram of the anisotropic XXZ spin chain in a transverse field.

cond-mat.str-el↗