Strain-induced magnetic phase transition, magnetic anisotropy switching and bilayer antiferromagnetic skyrmions in van der Waals magnet CrTe.

In recent years, considerable attention has been paid to the research of peculiar magnetism in two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) layered materials. Here, we unveil the major features and deep physical mechanisms of a magnetic phase transition and magnetic anisotropy switching in monolayer CrTe and antiferromagnetic (AFM) skyrmions in bilayer CrTe first-principles calculations and micromagnetic simulations. We find that a magnetic phase transition from stripy-type AFM to ferromagnetic (FM) order can be induced by applying a tensile strain of 3%.