Skyrmions in the moir\'e of van der Waals 2D magnets

Abstract

We explore the skyrmion formation and control possibilities in 2D magnets from the ubiquitous moir\'e pattern in vdW heterostructures. Using the example of a ferromagnetic monolayer on an antiferromagnetic substrate, we demonstrate a new origin of skyrmions in the 2D magnets, from the lateral modulation of interlayer magnetic coupling by the locally different atomic registries in moir\'e. The moir\'e skyrmions are doubly degenerate with opposite topological charge, and trapped at an ordered array of sites with the moir\'e periodicity that can be dramatically tuned by strain and interlayer translation. At relatively strong interlayer coupling, the ground states are skyrmion lattices, where magnetic field can switch the skyrmion vorticity and location in the moir\'e. At weak interlayer coupling limit, we find metastable skyrmion excitations on the ferromagnetic ground state that can be deterministically moved between the ordered moir\'e trapping sites by current pulses. Our results point to potential uses of moir\'e skyrmions both as information carriers and as drastically tunable topological background of electron transport.