Emergence of topological bimerons in monolayer CrSBr

Abstract The rich and fascinating physics of topological spin textures in van der Waals two-dimensional magnets has motivated recent growing interests, though a comprehensive understanding remains elusive. Here, by atomistic simulations on monolayer CrSBr, we find two different magnetic phases emerging under non-equilibrium conditions at a standard ferromagnetic transition Tc and at a distinct lower temperature T*. Moreover, the real-space analysis of the spin texture reveals the emergence of metastable topological bimeron defects below T*, showing an algebraic-like decaying spin-spin correlation function. The Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, induced by the local site asymmetry in the centrosymmetric CrSBr monolayer, is proved to be the origin of the bimerons formation. Furthermore, the increasing bimerons density upon increasing the cooling rate follows a Kibble-Zurek behavior, suggesting a handle to drive and control topological bimerons below T*. Our results put forward CrSBr as an important candidate for the investigation of dynamical behavior of bimerons in vdW magnets.