Control mechanisms for skyrmion types in centrosymmetric materials

Magnetic skyrmions are topologically protected magnetic vortices, with several potential applications in low energy memory storage and quantum computing. Magnetic skyrmions are typically stabilized by the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI). This interaction requires broken inversion symmetry, and usually, but not always, stabilizes the skyrmions on surfaces or material interfaces. It has recently been shown that certain centrosymmetric materials with competing interactions can also stabilize skyrmions through a fundamentally different mechanism. In this work, we computationally and analytically examine mechanisms for stabilizing skyrmions in these centrosymmetric systems, and well as mechanisms for controlling the skyrmion type. We find, in ideal centrosymmetric systems, that all skyrmion types (anti-skyrmions, Neel skyrmions, and Bloch skyrmions) coexist in one material, as they have the same energy, however, extremely small perturbations (from defects, interfaces, or applied electric fields) can quickly control the skyrmion phase.