Engineering antiferromagnetic skyrmions and antiskyrmions at metallic interfaces

Abstract

We identify a mechanism to convert skyrmions and antiskyrmions into their antiferromagnetic (AFM) counterparts via interface engineering. The key idea is to combine properties of an antiferromagnet and a spin-orbit (SO) coupled metal. Utilizing hybrid Monte Carlo (HMC) simulations for a generic microscopic electronic Hamiltonian for the interfacial layers, we explicitly show the emergence of AFM skyrmions and AFM antiskyrmions. We further show that an effective spin Hamiltonian provides a simpler understanding of the results. We discuss the role of electronic itinerancy in determining the nature of magnetic textures, and demonstrate that the mechanism also allows for a tuning of antiskyrmion size without changing the SO coupling.