Field-Direction Sensitive Skyrmion Crystals in Cubic Chiral Systems: Implication to 4f-Electron Compound EuPtSi

We theoretically study the stability of magnetic skyrmion crystals (SkXs) in chiral cubic antiferromagnets with the EuPtSi hosting unconventional nanometric SkXs in mind. By performing numerical simulations for a minimal effective spin model with the long-range Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and the multiple-spin interaction arising from itinerant nature of electrons, we clarify two key ingredients for the emergence of the SkXs in EuPtSi: One is the low-symmetric ordering vectors that lead to the field-direction sensitive SkXs in an external magnetic field, while the other is the synergy between spin-charge and spin-orbit couplings in itinerant magnets that results in the nanometric SkXs. The present study will not only provide the microscopic mechanism of the SkXs in EuPtSi but also guide for a search of further materials hosting short-period SkXs.

Automated summary

The study reveals two key factors for the emergence of SkXs in EuPtSi: low-symmetric ordering vectors and the synergy between spin-charge and spin-orbit couplings, providing a microscopic mechanism for the nanometric SkXs.