Janus Skyrmion: Interfacial Quasiparticle with Two-Faced Helicity

Abstract: Janus particles are functional particles with at least two surfaces showing asymmetric properties. We show at the interface between two magnetic regions with different antisymmetric exchange interactions, a new species of topological quasiparticles can emerge, in which different helicity structures can coexist. We name such an interfacial quasiparticle a "Janus skyrmion", in analogy to the Janus particle. As the Janus skyrmion shows helicity asymmetry, its size could vary with both the in-plane and out-of-plane magnetic fields. A vertical spin current could drive the Janus skyrmion into one-dimensional motion along the interface without showing the skyrmion Hall effect, at a speed which depends on both the spin polarization angle and current density. Thermal fluctuations could also lead to one-dimensional random walk of a Brownian Janus skyrmion. This work uncovers unique dynamics of interfacial quasiparticles with exotic helicity structures, which may be realized in interface-engineered magnetic layers.