Following the early prediction of the skyrmion lattice (SkL)--a periodic array of spin vortices--it has been observed recently in various magnetic crystals mostly with chiral structure. Although non-chiral but polar crystals with Cnv symmetry were identified as ideal SkL hosts in pioneering theoretical studies, this archetype of SkL has remained experimentally unexplored. Here, we report the discovery of a SkL in the polar magnetic semiconductor GaV4S8 with rhombohedral (C3v) symmetry and easy axis anisotropy. The SkL exists over an unusually broad temperature range compared with other bulk crystals and the orientation of the vortices is not controlled by the external magnetic field, but instead confined to the magnetic easy axis. Supporting theory attributes these unique features to a new Néel-type of SkL describable as a superposition of spin cycloids in contrast to the Bloch-type SkL in chiral magnets described in terms of spin helices.

The skyrmion lattice state (SkL), a crystal built of mesoscopic spin vortices, gains its stability via thermal fluctuations in all bulk skyrmion host materials known to date. Therefore, its existence is limited to a narrow temperature region below the paramagnetic state. This stability range can drastically increase in systems with restricted geometries, such as thin films, interfaces and nanowires. Thermal quenching can also promote the SkL as a metastable state over extended temperature ranges. Here, we demonstrate more generally that a proper choice of material parameters alone guarantees the thermodynamic stability of the SkL over the full temperature range below the paramagnetic state down to zero kelvin. We found that GaV4Se8, a polar magnet with easy-plane anisotropy, hosts a robust Néel-type SkL even in its ground state. Our supporting theory confirms that polar magnets with weak uniaxial anisotropy are ideal candidates to realize SkLs with wide stability ranges.

Polycrystalline samples of NaYbO2 are investigated by bulk magnetization and specific-heat measurements, as well as by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and electron spin resonance (ESR) as local probes. No signatures of long-range magnetic order are found down to 0.3 K, evidencing a highly frustrated spin-liquid-like ground state in zero field. Above 2 T, signatures of magnetic order are observed in thermodynamic measurements, suggesting the possibility of a field-induced quantum phase transition. The 23 Na NMR relaxation rates reveal the absence of magnetic order and persistent fluctuations down to 0.3 K at very low fields and confirm the bulk magnetic order above 2 T. The H-T phase diagram is obtained and discussed along with the existing theoretical concepts for layered spin-1 2 triangular-lattice antiferromagnets.

Broadband microwave spectroscopy has been performed on single-crystalline GaV4S8, which exhibits a complex magnetic phase diagram including cycloidal, Néel-type skyrmion lattice, as well as field-polarized ferromagnetic phases below 13 K. At zero and small magnetic fields two collective modes are found at 5 and 15 GHz, which are characteristic of the cycloidal state in this easy-axis magnet. In finite fields, entering the skyrmion lattice phase, the spectrum transforms into a multimode pattern with absorption peaks near 4, 8, and 15 GHz. The spin excitation spectra in GaV4S8 and their field dependencies are found to be in close relation to those observed in materials with Bloch-type skyrmions. Distinct differences arise from the strong uniaxial magnetic anisotropy of GaV4S8 not present in so-far known skyrmion hosts. The occurence of nontrivial topology in the spin pattern of magnets has gained considerable interest in condensed matter physics. Recent research focuses on magnetic skyrmions which are thermodynamically stabilized in compounds with noncentrosymmetric crystal structures, in a limited region of the magnetic field versus temperature phase diagram [1][2][3]. Skyrmions are whirllike objects of spins which can crystallize in skyrmion lattices (SkLs) with typical lattice constants from ten to hundred nanometers and give rise to emergent electrodynamics, like the topological Hall effect [4][5][6] or magnetic monopoles [7]. Individual skyrmions have been proposed as building blocks for novel nanomagnetic storage devices [8,9]. The SkL has raised high interest for microwavetechnology applications after collective spin excitations predicted in the GHz range [10] were evidenced in the insulating chiral magnet Cu 2 OSeO 3 [11][12][13][14][15][16]. Later it was found that different metallic, semiconducting, and insulating chiral magnets support the same set of characteristic excitations, i.e., three SkL modes characterized as clockwise (CW), counterclockwise (CCW) and breathing (BR) modes, that all follow a universal behavior [17].Besides the Bloch-type skyrmions reported in the aforementioned works, a Néel-type SkL has recently been discovered in GaV 4 S 8 [18], where the spins rotate radially towards the vortex core. In this semiconductor characterized by V 4 S 4 clusters with spin S = 1 2 [19], a structural Jahn-Teller transition [20] at 44 K is followed by the onset of magnetic order at the Curie temperature T C = 13 K. At the structural transition the lattice is stretched along one of the four body diagonals, resulting in a strongly anisotropic easy-axis magnet. The magnetic multi-domain structure strongly depends on the orientation and strength of the applied magnetic field and gives rise to complex magnetic phase diagrams [see Figures 1(a), 1(c) and 2(a)] including cycloidal (Cyc), SkL, and ferromagnetic (FM) regions. Specifically, the skyrmions do not follow the external magnetic field but are confined to the magnetic easy axes. The phases have been interpreted in terms of a competition of symmetric and ...