Magnetism in materials arises due to the alignment of electron spins, which generates intrinsic magnetic moments. However, in certain magnetic materials with broken inversion symmetry and significant spin-orbit coupling, the electron spins tend towards aligning perpendicular to each other, resulting in noncollinear and chiral magnetic structures. This antisymmetric interaction is known as Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction, or DMI. It has drawn wide interest across various research areas, including quantum spin systems, multiferroics, and spintronics.

A “Special Topics” edition of the Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, presents a collection of papers examining the magnetic properties resulting from DMI.

Fert et al. discuss the research advances in DMI and its role in designing innovative magnetic devices in the field of modern spintronics. Nagaosa describes the physics of multiferroics and related topics including emergent inductance, nonreciprocal nonlinear resistivity, superconducting multiferroics, and the presence of skyrmions in chiral magnets. Ohta elaborates on the dynamic aspects of DMI in quantum spin systems, focusing on its role in exotic quantum magnets with unique geometries like chains, kagome lattices, and honeycomb structures.

Mazurenko et al. offer insights into machine learning algorithms for characterizing magnetic skyrmions that originate from DMI, potentially benefitting near-term quantum computers. Mostovoy discusses the methods to manipulate magnetic topological defects, which may be useful for developing low energy-consumption memory and data processing devices. Togawa et al. explore how DMI is related to chirality in chiral crystals, and examine its effects on the magnetic, electronic, spintronic, and phononic properties of these materials.

Kammerbauer et al. discuss how DMI, that emerges in various systems, can be manipulated using electrical fields and currents. This may pave the way for the development of new devices based on the capacity to control DMI sign and strength.

Finally, Tokunaga et al. look at the inverse effect of DMI on magnetoelectric multiferroics and skyrmion materials. They classify these materials based on their magnetic structure and also present examples of DMI phenomena such as nonlinear magnetoelectric effects, and the formation of magnetic skyrmions.

Collectively, these articles aim to advance our understanding of DMI or Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction and pave the way for the development of next-generation computing and electronic systems.