First-principles investigation of magnetic skyrmions in 2D van der Waals heterostructures

Work package:
Magnetic skyrmions, topologically protected chiral spin structures with particle-like properties, have attracted tremendous attention due to their potential application in next-generation spintronics devices such as racetrack memories, logic gates, and qubits for quantum computing. The recent discovery of 2D magnetic materials opened new opportunities for topological spin structures in atomically thin van der Waals (vdW) materials. Stabilizing skyrmions in 2D magnets have several potential advantages. These include avoiding pinning by defects, the possibility of forming skyrmions with a minimum thickness, and easy control of magnetism via external stimuli. The study of magnetic skyrmions in 2D magnets is still in its early stage. The purpose of this Master’s project is to explore magnetic skyrmions (e.g., generation, stability, detection, etc) in atomically thin vdW materials by density functional theory (DFT), the atomistic spin model (Heisenberg exchange, Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, magnetocrystalline anisotropy), and nonequilibrium Green’s function formalism. This internship requires a taste for modeling. The numerical calculations will be performed using local and national HPC facilities such as CALMIP and GENCI. The results obtained will be analyzed with the possibility of publication in international scientific journals. Funding for a Ph.D. starting in October 2023 is already secured by the French National Research Agency (ANR).