Wang X R, Hu Xu-Chong, Sun Zhou-Zhou
Physics Department, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
HKUST Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen 518057, China.
Nano Lett. 2023 May 10;23(9):3954-3962. doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c00718. Epub 2023 Apr 25.
Stripy states, consisting of a collection of stripy spin textures, are the precursors of skyrmion crystals (SkXs). The common belief is that stripy states and SkXs are topologically unconnected and that transitions between SkXs and stripy states are phase transitions. Here, we show that both stripy states and SkXs are skyrmion condensates and they are topologically equivalent. By gradually tuning the stripe whose width goes from smaller than to larger than skyrmion-skyrmion separation, the structure of a skyrmion condensate transforms smoothly and continuously from various stripy phases, including helical states and mazes, to crystals, showing that stripy states are topologically connected to SkXs.
条纹态由一系列条纹状自旋纹理组成，是斯格明子晶体（SkXs）的前驱体。普遍的观点认为条纹态和斯格明子晶体在拓扑结构上是不相连的，并且斯格明子晶体与条纹态之间的转变是相变。在此，我们表明条纹态和斯格明子晶体都是斯格明子凝聚态，并且它们在拓扑结构上是等价的。通过逐渐调整条纹宽度，使其从小于斯格明子 - 斯格明子间距变为大于斯格明子 - 斯格明子间距，斯格明子凝聚态的结构会从各种条纹相，包括螺旋态和迷宫态，平滑且连续地转变为晶体，这表明条纹态在拓扑结构上与斯格明子晶体相连。
