In recent years, the study of non-coplanar spin textures has emerged as a key area of research in spintronics. Stable spin structures, such as skyrmions, spin spirals, and domain walls, have been identified as promising candidates for next-generation information storage devices. However, current methods for controlling these spin-based information units primarily rely on experimental measurements and empirical models, which provide only qualitative descriptions and are insufficient for driving technological advancements.
To address this limitation, density functional theory (DFT) offers a powerful approach for predicting material properties without relying on empirical parameters. However, its direct application to complex spin textures is computationally prohibitive due to the large system sizes involved.
In this work, the research team has developed a novel first-principles approach based on DFT to study non-coplanar magnets. To overcome the computational challenges associated with large-scale spin textures, they introduce a modeling framework that links the effective magnetic potential to local spin moments, effectively bypassing the need for superlattice calculations. Furthermore, by integrating this approach with the Wannier tight-binding method, they have constructed an efficient tool for predicting charge transport properties in non-coplanar spin systems. This computational framework provides valuable guidelines for identifying promising magnetic materials for next-generation storage devices and accelerates progress in spintronics technology.
Papers
Journal: Physical Review X
Title: Topological Hall effect of Skyrmions from First Principles
Authors: Hsiao-Yi Chen*, Takuya Nomoto, Max Hirschberger, and Ryotaro Arita