Vortex lattice in two-dimensional chiral XY ferromagnets and the inverse Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition

Abstract

In this Letter we will show that, in the presence of a properly modulated Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction, a U(1) vortex-antivortex lattice appears at low temperatures for a wide range of the DM interaction. Even more, in the region dominated by the exchange interaction, a standard BKT transition occurs. In the opposite regime, the one dominated by the DM interaction, a kind of inverse BKT transition (iBKT) takes place. As temperature rises, the vortex-antivortex lattice starts melting by annihilation of pairs of vortex-antivortex, in a sort of “inverse” BKT transition.