Skyrmion crystals and phase transitions in magneto-ferroelectric superlattices: Dzyaloshinskii-moriya interaction in a frustrated J1-J2 model

Abstract

The formation of a skyrmion crystal and its phase transition are studied, taking into account the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction at the interface between a ferroelectric layer and a magnetic layer in a superlattice. Frustration is introduced in both magnetic and ferroelectric films. The films have a simple cubic lattice structure. The spins inside the magnetic layers are Heisenberg spins interacting with each other via nearest-neighbor (NN) exchange Jm and next-nearest-neighbor (NNN) exchange J2m. The polarizations in the ferroelectric layers are assumed to be of Ising type with NN and NNN interactions Jf and J2f. At the magnetoelectric interface, a DM interaction Jmf between spins and polarizations is supposed. The spin configuration in the ground state is calculated by the steepest descent method. In an applied magnetic field H perpendicular to the layers, we show that the formation of skyrmions at the magnetoelectric interface is strongly enhanced by the frustration brought about by the NNN antiferromagnetic interactions J2m and J2f. Various physical quantities at finite temperatures are obtained by Monte Carlo simulations. We show the critical temperature, the order parameters of magnetic and ferroelectric layers as functions of the interface DM coupling, the applied magnetic field, and J2m and J2f. The phase transition to the disordered phase is studied in detail.