Strain-induced magnetic phase transition and antiferromagnetic skyrmions of Re atoms adsorbed on a Janus MoSSe monolayer
Qingqing Yang, Guangtian Ji, Guanyu Chen, Xin‐Wei Shi, Jueming Yang, Long Zhou, Guixian Ge, Renchao Che
Abstract
The realization of magnetic skyrmions in nanomaterials offers significant potential for both fundamental research and practical applications. Unfortunately, while Janus structures offer a promising approach for achieving a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) in two-dimensional (2D) materials, the relatively small DMI in these systems poses challenges for the effective induction of skyrmions. In this paper, we explore the magnetic properties of $5d$ transition metal atoms adsorption on a Janus MoSSe monolayer ($5d$-TM@MoSSe) through first-principles calculations. In particular, the positive exchange coefficient ($J$), large DMI(${d}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}$), and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) energy of 7.35 meV in Re@MoSSe are superior to those observed in the TM@MoSSe systems. Applying biaxial tensile strain can significantly enhance these parameters while also reversing the magnetic state and the chiral of ${d}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}$ in Re@MoSSe. At 8% tensile strain, ${d}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}$ reaches its maximum value of 4.324 meV; this is because the change of $d$ orbital distribution around Fermi level induced by tensile strain plays a key role in determining a DMI. The value is more than 60 times larger than that of zero strain and is superior to that of state-of-the-art heavy metal/ferromagnetic heterostructures. Furthermore, micromagnetic simulations reveal that antiferromagnetic (AFM) skyrmions in the Re@MoSSe monolayer under 8% tensile strain is highly stable, independent of external stray fields. These findings provide valuable insights into the study of AFM skyrmions and the DMI in 2D materials.