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    Resonating holes vs molecular spin-orbit coupled states in group-5 lacunar spinels
    ([London] : Nature Publishing Group UK, 2023) Petersen, Thorben; Bhattacharyya, Pritam; Rößler, Ulrich K.; Hozoi, Liviu
    The valence electronic structure of magnetic centers is one of the factors that determines the characteristics of a magnet. This may refer to orbital degeneracy, as for jeff = 1/2 Kitaev magnets, or near-degeneracy, e.g., involving the third and fourth shells in cuprate superconductors. Here we explore the inner structure of magnetic moments in group-5 lacunar spinels, fascinating materials featuring multisite magnetic units in the form of tetrahedral tetramers. Our quantum chemical analysis reveals a very colorful landscape, much richer than the single-electron, single-configuration description applied so far to all group-5 GaM4X8 chalcogenides, and clarifies the basic multiorbital correlations on M4 tetrahedral clusters: while for V strong correlations yield a wave-function that can be well described in terms of four V4+V3+V3+V3+ resonant valence structures, for Nb and Ta a picture of dressed molecular-orbital jeff = 3/2 entities is more appropriate. These internal degrees of freedom likely shape vibronic couplings, phase transitions, and the magneto-electric properties in each of these systems.
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    Manipulating topological states by imprinting non-collinear spin textures
    ([London] : Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature, 2015) Streubel, Robert; Han, Luyang; Im, Mi-Young; Kronast, Florian; Rößler, Ulrich K.; Radu, Florin; Abrudan, Radu; Lin, Gungun; Schmidt, Oliver G.; Fischer, Peter; Makarov, Denys
    Topological magnetic states, such as chiral skyrmions, are of great scientific interest and show huge potential for novel spintronics applications, provided their topological charges can be fully controlled. So far skyrmionic textures have been observed in noncentrosymmetric crystalline materials with low symmetry and at low temperatures. We propose theoretically and demonstrate experimentally the design of spin textures with topological charge densities that can be tailored at ambient temperatures. Tuning the interlayer coupling in vertically stacked nanopatterned magnetic heterostructures, such as a model system of a Co/Pd multilayer coupled to Permalloy, the in-plane non-collinear spin texture of one layer can be imprinted into the out-of-plane magnetised material. We observe distinct spin textures, e.g. vortices, magnetic swirls with tunable opening angle, donut states and skyrmion core configurations. We show that applying a small magnetic field, a reliable switching between topologically distinct textures can be achieved at remanence.