Electronic properties, skyrmions and bimerons in Janus CrXY (X, Y = S, Se, Te, Cl, Br, I, and X ≠ Y) monolayers

Abstract

Using first-principles calculations, we systematically investigate the electronic properties, chiral skyrmions and bimerons in two-dimensional (2D) Janus CrXY (X, Y = S, Se, Te, Cl, Br, I, and X ≠ Y) monolayers. We found that the categories of nonmagnetic atoms (X and Y in CrXY) determine whether CrXY is a ferromagnetic metal or a semiconductor. Unexpectedly, the CrBrS monolayer of these CrXY materials is a room temperature ferromagnetic semiconductor with a Curie temperature of 303 K, and it possesses an off-plane magnetic anisotropy energy of 0.06 meV. Besides, a strong Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI) of 3.10 meV is found in CrTeI and is mainly induced by the strong spin–orbit coupling of the nonmagnetic atoms Te(I) rather than that of the magnetic Cr atoms. Furthermore, using micromagnetic simulations, skyrmions can be stabilized in CrSeBr without external magnetic fields. More importantly, the bimerons in CrSeCl with in-plane magnetic anisotropy can be transformed into skyrmions or a ferromagnetic state by controlling the direction of external magnetic fields. Our work investigates fourteen kinds of Janus monolayers, serving as guidelines for materials research on DMI, skyrmions and bimerons.