This paper reports the experimental discovery of multi-step topological transitions among various meron and skyrmion crystal states in the centrosymmetric magnet GdRu₂Ge₂. Using resonant X-ray and neutron scattering, along with electron transport measurements, the researchers found that this compound exhibits periodic lattices of elliptic skyrmions, meron/anti-meron pairs, and circular skyrmions as a function of external magnetic field. These structures are remarkably small (2.7 nm diameter) and the transitions are well-reproduced by a theoretical model incorporating competing RKKY interactions at different wave vectors. The findings suggest that centrosymmetric magnets with competing interactions are a promising platform for creating a wide variety of nanometric magnetic quasi-particles.
Publisher
Nature
Published On
Authors
H. Yoshimochi, R. Takagi, J. Ju, N. D. Khanh, H. Saito, H. Sagayama, H. Nakao, S. Itoh, Y. Tokura, T. Arima, S. Hayami, T. Nakajima, S. Seki
Tags
meron
skyrmion
topological transitions
centrosymmetric magnet
GdRu₂Ge₂
nanometric particles
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