Centrosymmetric Double-Q Skyrmion Crystals Under Uniaxial Distortion and Bond-Dependent Anisotropy
We theoretically investigate the stability of double-Q square skyrmion crystals under uniaxial distortion. Using an effective spin model with frustrated exchange interactions and bond-dependent anisotropy in momentum space, we construct the low-temperature magnetic phase diagram via simulated annealing. Our results reveal that uniaxial distortion drives a phase transition from the skyrmion crystal to a single-Q conical spiral state when the ratio of exchange interactions parallel and perpendicular to the uniaxial axis is reduced to about 95%. We further find that topologically trivial double-Q states, which emerge in the low- and high-field regimes, are more robust against uniaxial distortion than the skyrmion crystal appearing in the intermediate-field regime. Finally, we examine the role of bond-dependent anisotropy and demonstrate that a finite relative magnitude of this anisotropy is crucial for stabilizing the skyrmion crystal, even under uniaxial distortion. These findings highlight the delicate interplay between lattice distortions and bond-dependent interactions in determining the stability of multiple-Q magnetic textures, and they provide useful guidance for experimental efforts to manipulate skyrmion crystal phases in centrosymmetric magnets.
Authors
- Satoru Hayami (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9186-6958)
Institutions
- Hokkaido University (JP)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Crystals
- Published
- 2025-10-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst15110930
- Primary Topic
- Magnetic properties of thin films
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00