Observation of skyrmion-like magnetism in multiferroic BiMnO3*

Polycrystalline sample BiMnO3 was synthesized at high-pressure and temperature and characterized by X-ray diffraction. In our previous reports [1, 2], the multiple magnetic anomalous transitions have been investigated under a hydrostatic pressure up to 11.9 kbar, where the interesting magnetic H-T phase diagrams were also established. In this study, we revisit the pressure effect on the magnetic properties in BiMnO3, particularly in low magnetic field region. Interestingly, a pressure induced skyrmion-like A phase was observed in low magnetic field. The striking and unexpected observation of skyrmion-like phase in BiMnO3 will be discussed.

References:
[1] C. C. Chu et al., Anomalous pressure effect on the magnetic ordering in multiferroic BiMnO3, PHYSICAL REVIEW B 78, 092404 (2008)
[2] C. C. Chu et al., Multiple magnetic transitions in multiferroic BiMnO3, PHYSICAL REVIEW B 80, 184426 (2009)