ArXiv · 2026
Quenched disorder can disrupt crystalline order without immediately destroying the topology of its constituent textures, but the relation between these processes in skyrmion crystals remains unclear. Using large-scale simulations of a triangular-lattice chiral magnet with random DM interactions, we show that the magnetic field selects between two disordering routes. At high fields, global translational coherence is lost at a weak-disorder scale, while sixfold bond-orientational order survives to a larger disorder strength and the total topological charge remains nearly locked up to a substantially larger scale. The resulting interval defines a topological buffer containing a Bragg-glass- like skyrmion regime followed by a skyrmion-glass regime. Finite-size scaling, spatial correlations, defect statistics, and spin autocorrelations support their distinct structural and glassy character. At lower fields, bond-orientational disordering nearly coincides with topological reconstruction, eliminating the skyrmion-glass window and contracting the buffer. These results identify the magnetic field as a control knob for separating crystalline disordering from topological-charge loss and establish topological buffering as a mechanism by which topological textures can remain robust in structurally disordered media.
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