Hopf solitons in helical and conical backgrounds of chiral magnetic solids

Three-dimensional topological solitons attract a great deal of interest in fields ranging from particle physics to cosmology but remain experimentally elusive in solid-state magnets. Here we numerically predict magnetic heliknotons, an embodiment of such nonzero-Hopf-index solitons localized in all...

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Published inarXiv.org
Main Authors Voinescu, Robert, Tai, Jung-Shen B, Smalyukh, Ivan I
Format Paper Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 27.07.2020
Subjects
Cosmology
Crystal lattices
Magnetic control
Magnets
Particle physics
Physics - Materials Science
Physics - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Solitary waves
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Summary:Three-dimensional topological solitons attract a great deal of interest in fields ranging from particle physics to cosmology but remain experimentally elusive in solid-state magnets. Here we numerically predict magnetic heliknotons, an embodiment of such nonzero-Hopf-index solitons localized in all spatial dimensions while embedded in a helical or conical background of chiral magnets. We describe conditions under which heliknotons emerge as metastable or ground-state localized nonsingular structures with fascinating knots of magnetization field in widely studied materials. We demonstrate magnetic control of three-dimensional spatial positions of such solitons, as well as show how they interact to form molecule-like clusters and possibly even crystalline phases comprising three-dimensional lattices of such solitons with both orientational and positional order. Finally, we discuss both fundamental importance and potential technological utility of magnetic heliknotons.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.2004.10109