Reorientation transition between square and hexagonal skyrmion lattices near the saturation into the homogeneous state in quasi-two-dimensional chiral magnets

Abstract

I revisit the well-known phase transition between the hexagonal skyrmion lattice and the homogeneous state within the phenomenological Dzyaloshinskii theory for chiral magnets which includes only the exchange, Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya and Zeeman energy contributions. I show that, in a narrow field range near the saturation field, the hexagonal skyrmion order gradually transforms into a square arrangement of skyrmions. Then, by the second-order phase transition during which the lattice period diverges, the square skyrmion lattice releases a set of repulsive isolated skyrmions. On decreasing magnetic field, isolated skyrmions re-condense into the square lattice at the same critical field as soon as their eigen-energy becomes negative with respect to the field-aligned state. The underlying reason of the reorientation transition between two skyrmion orders can be deduced from the energy density distribution within isolated skyrmions surrounded by the homogeneous state. When the negative energy within the ring-shaped area at the skyrmion outskirt outweighs the positive energy amount around the skyrmion axis, skyrmions tend to form the square lattice, in which the overlap of skyrmion profiles results in smaller energy losses as compared with the hexagonal crystal. With the further decreasing field, the hexagonal lattice achieves smaller energy density in comparison with the square one due to the denser packing of individual skyrmions.