Simulating anti-skyrmions on a lattice

Magnetic skyrmions are meta-stable spin structures that naturally emerge in magnetic materials. While a vast amount of effort has gone into the study of their properties, their counterpart of opposite topological charge, the anti-skyrmion, has not received as much attention. We aim to close this gap by deploying Monte Carlo simulations of spin-lattice systems in order to investigate which interactions support anti-skyrmions, as well as skyrmions of Bloch and Neel type. We find that the combination of ferromagnetic exchange and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interactions is able to stabilize each of the three types, depending on the specific structure of the DM interactions. Considering a three-dimensional spin lattice model, we provide a finite-temperature phase diagram featuring a stable anti-skyrmion lattice phase for a large range of temperatures. In addition, we also shed light on the creation and annihilation processes of these anti-skyrmion tubes and study the effects of the DM interaction strength on their typical size.

Automated summary

In this study, we investigate the properties of anti-skyrmions, the counterparty of skyrmions with opposite topological charge, using Monte Carlo simulations. We find that a combination of ferromagnetic exchange and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions can stabilize different types of skyrmions. Furthermore, we present a finite-temperature phase diagram that shows the existence of a stable anti-skyrmion lattice phase within a certain temperature range.