Measuring the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction in a weak ferromagnetстатья
Статья опубликована в высокорейтинговом журнале
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Дата последнего поиска статьи во внешних источниках: 21 апреля 2014 г.
Аннотация:Weak ferromagnetism in materials such asα−Fe2O3 was cited by Moria as being ‘a
controversial problem for a decade’ back in 1960, and played a crucial role in the development of the theory of antisymmetric exchange (Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya) interactions. In recent years interest has shifted towards other manifestation of the DM interaction, such as the magnetoelectric effect and skyrmion states, where reliable theoretical predictions have
been lacking. Weak ferromagnets provide an excellent test-bed for theories due to the fact
that the twisting of the atomic moments is purely local and leads to a small and manageable
magneticunitcell,incontrasttothelong-periodmodulationsobservedingloballychiralcrystals.
Unfortunately, while the local nature of the twisted moments is highly beneficial for theoretical development, it leads to some severe experimental challenges. Most notably, it is necessary to extract the phase of the magnetic scattering, rather than the usual intensity.
In this paper, we present a study of the weak ferromagnet FeBO3. We discuss the direction
(axis) of the DM interaction by considering its symmetry, and the magnitude of the interaction via the canting angle. Most significantly, we show the first results from a novel interference technique proposed by some of us [4] to determine the phase of the magnetic x-ray scattering signal, and the sign of the DM interaction in FeBO3.