Fig. 1: Interchained AFM skyrmions in CrPdFe trilayer on Ir(111). | Nature Communications

Fig. 1: Interchained AFM skyrmions in CrPdFe trilayer on Ir(111).

From: Emergence of zero-field non-synthetic single and interchained antiferromagnetic skyrmions in thin films

Fig. 1

a Schematic representation of the investigated trilayer deposited on Ir(111) following fcc stacking. b The interchaining of skyrmions is reminiscent of interpenetrating rings, which realize topologically protected phases. c The ground state being RW-AFM (see inset) can host AFM skyrmions that can be isolated or interlinked to form multimers of skyrmions, here we show examples ranging from dimers to pentamers. The AFM skyrmions can be decomposed into FM skyrmions living in sublattices illustrated in d. In case of the single AFM skyrmion, two of the sublattices, L1 and L2, are occupied by the FM skyrmions shown in e. L3 and L4 host quasi-collinear AFM spins in contrast to the FM skyrmions emerging in the case of the double AFM skyrmion presented in f. Note that the separation of sublattices L1, L2, L3, and L4 shown in e and f is only done for illustration.

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