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.

A zoo of multiferroic phases shows up in the lacunar spinel GaV4S8, including skyrmions carrying ferroelectric polarization.

We propose that concurrently magnetic and ferroelectric, i.e., multiferroic, compounds endowed with electrically active magnetic excitations (electromagnons) provide a key to producing large directional dichroism for long wavelengths of light. By exploiting the control of ferroelectric polarization and magnetization in a multiferroic oxide Ba(2)CoGe(2)O(7), we demonstrate the realization of such a directional light-switch function at terahertz frequencies in resonance with the electromagnon absorption. Our results imply that this hidden potential is present in a broad variety of multiferroics.