Manipulation of magnetic topological textures via perpendicular strain and polarization in van der Waals magnetoelectric heterostructures

The multifunctional manipulation of magnetic topological textures such as skyrmions and bimerons in energy-efficient ways is of great importance for spintronic applications, but it is still a big challenge. Here, by first-principles calculations and atomistic simulations, the creation and annihilation of skyrmions/bimerons, as key operations for the reading and writing of information in spintronic devices, are achieved in a van der Waals magnetoelectric CrISe/In2Se3 heterostructure via perpendicular strain or electric field without an external magnetic field. In addition, bimeron-skyrmion conversion, size modulation, and reversible magnetization switching from in plane to out of plane could also be realized in magnetic-field-free ways. Moreover, the topological charge and morphology can be precisely controlled by a small magnetic field. The strong Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and tunable magnetic anisotropy energy in a wide window are found to play vital roles in such energy-efficient multifunctional manipulation, and the underlying physical mechanisms are elucidated. Our work predicts the CrISe/In2Se3 heterostructure to be an ideal platform to address this challenge in spintronic applications, and theoretically guides the low-dissipation multifunctional manipulation of magnetic topological textures.