Mehboodi, S.; Ukleev, V.; Luo, C.; Abrudan, R.; Radu, F.; Back, C.H.; Aqeel, A.: Observation of distorted tilted conical phase at the surface of a bulk chiral magnet with resonant elastic x-ray scattering. Science and Technology of Advanced Materials 26 (2025), p. 2532366/1-12
10.1080/14686996.2025.2532366
Open Access Version
Abstract:
We report on various magnetic configurations including spirals and skyrmions at the surface of the magnetic insulator Cu2OSeO3 at low temperatures with a magnetic field applied along 100 using resonant elastic X-ray scattering (REXS). We observe a well-ordered surface state referred to as a distorted tilted conical spiral (dTC) phase over a wide range of magnetic fields. The dTC phase shows characteristic higher harmonic magnetic satellites in the REXS reciprocal space maps. Skyrmions emerge following static magnetic field cycling and appear to coexist with the dTC phase. Our results indicate that this phase represents a distinct and stable surface state that does not disappear with field cycling and persists until the field strength is increased sufficiently to create the field-polarized state.