Strain-tunable ferromagnetism and chiral spin textures in two-dimensional Janus chromium dichalcogenides

Abstract

Using first-principles calculations and micromagnetic simulations, we systematically investigate the magnetic properties of two-dimensional Janus chromium dichalcogenides ($\mathrm{Cr}X\mathrm{Te}, X=\mathrm{S}$, Se) under strain. We find that the CrSTe monolayer has high Curie temperature (${T}_{c}$) of 295 K and an out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy. The CrSeTe monolayer has large Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) which can host chiral N\'eel domain wall (DW), and under an external magnetic field, the skyrmion states can be induced. As tensile strain increases, ferromagnetic exchange coupling and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of Janus $\mathrm{Cr}X\mathrm{Te}$ monolayers both increase significantly, and the magnitude of DMI is reduced, which results in the giant ferromagnetism enhancement. Interestingly, for CrSeTe monolayer, distinct spin textures from chiral DW to uniform ferromagnetic states are induced under tensile strain. Moreover, the diameter and density of skyrmions in CrSeTe can be tuned by the amplitude of external magnetic field and strain. These findings highlight that the Janus $\mathrm{Cr}X\mathrm{Te}$ monolayers as good candidates for spintronic nanodevices.