Chiral Skyrmionic matter in non-centrosymmetric magnets

Axisymmetric magnetic strings with a fixed sense of rotation and nanometer sizes (chiral magnetic vortices or Skyrmions) have been predicted to exist in a large group of non-centrosymmetric crystals more than two decades ago. Recently these extraordinary magnetic states have been directly observed in thin layers of cubic helimagnet (Fe,Co)Si. In this report we apply our earlier theoretical findings to review main properties of chiral Skyrmions, to elucidate their physical nature, and to analyse these recent experimental results on magnetic-field-driven evolution of Skyrmions and helicoids in chiral helimagnets.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, invited talk - JEMS-2010 ( 23-28 August, Krakow, Poland

Precursor phenomena at the magnetic ordering of the cubic helimagnet FeGe

We report on detailed magnetic measurements on the cubic helimagnet FeGe in external magnetic fields and temperatures near the onset of long-range magnetic order at $T_C= 278.2(3)$ K. Precursor phenomena display a complex succession of temperature-driven crossovers and phase transitions in the vicinity of $T_C$. The A-phase region, present below $T_C$ and fields $H<0.5$ kOe, is split in several pockets. Relying on a modified phenomenological theory for chiral magnets, the main part of the A-phase could indicate the existence of a $+\pi$ Skyrmion lattice, the adjacent A$_2$ pocket, however, appears to be related to helicoids propagating in directions perpendicular to the applied field.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

The properties of isolated chiral skyrmions in thin magnetic films

Axisymmetric solitonic states (chiral skyrmions) have been predicted theoretically more than two decades ago. However, until recently they have been observed in a form of skyrmionic condensates (hexagonal lattices and other mesophases). In this paper we report experimental and theoretical investigations of isolated chiral skyrmions discovered in PdFe/Ir(111) bilayers two years ago (Science 341 , 636 (2013)). The results of spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy analyzed within the continuum and discrete models provide a consistent description of isolated skyrmions in thin layers. The existence region of chiral skyrmions is restricted by strip-out instabilities at low fields and a collapse at high fields. We demonstrate that the same equations describe axisymmetric localized states in all condensed matter systems with broken mirror symmetry, and thus our findings establish basic properties of isolated skyrmions common for chiral liquid crystals, different classes of noncentrosymmetric magnets, ferroelectrics, and multiferroics.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure

Theory of stripe domains in magnetic shape memory alloys

The evolution of multivariant patterns in thin plates of magnetic shape memory materials with an applied magnetic field was studied theoretically. A geometrical domain-model is considered composed of straight stripe-like martensite variants with constant internal magnetization (high anisotropy limit) and magnetic domain wall orientation fixed by the twin boundaries. Through integral transforms of the demagnetization energy, the micromagnetic energy is cast into a form convenient for direct numerical evaluation and analytical calculations. The equilibrium geometrical parameters of multivariant patterns with straight and oblique twin boundaries have been derived as functions of the applied field and the material parameters of a plate. It is shown that the oblique multivariant states exist only in plates with thicknesses L larger than a certain critical value L_0. In samples with L < L_0 a magnetic-field-driven transformation occurs directly between single variant states.Comment: Materials for E-MRS Fall Meeting, Warsaw 2007. Corrected figure

Intermediate phase in the spiral antiferromagnet Ba_2CuGe_2O_7

The magnetic compound Ba_2CuGe_2O_7 has recently been shown to be an essentially two-dimensional spiral antiferromagnet that exhibits an incommensurate-to-commensurate phase transition when a magnetic field applied along the c-axis exceeds a certain critical value H_c. The T=0 dynamics is described here in terms of a continuum field theory in the form of a nonlinear sigma model. We are thus in a position to carry out a complete calculation of the low-energy magnon spectrum for any strength of the applied field throughout the phase transition. In particular, our spin-wave analysis reveals field-induced instabilities at two distinct critical fields H_1 and H_2 such that H_1 < H_c < H_2. Hence we predict the existence of an intermediate phase whose detailed nature is also studied to some extent in the present paper.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, 2 table

Spin-flop transition in uniaxial antiferromagnets: magnetic phases, reorientation effects, multidomain states

The classical spin-flop is the field-driven first-order reorientation transition in easy-axis antiferromagnets. A comprehensive phenomenological theory of easy-axis antiferromagnets displaying spin-flops is developed. It is shown how the hierarchy of magnetic coupling strengths in these antiferromagnets causes a strongly pronounced two-scale character in their magnetic phase structure. In contrast to the major part of the magnetic phase diagram, these antiferromagnets near the spin-flop region are described by an effective model akin to uniaxial ferromagnets. For a consistent theoretical description both higher-order anisotropy contributions and dipolar stray-fields have to be taken into account near the spin-flop. In particular, thermodynamically stable multidomain states exist in the spin-flop region, owing to the phase coexistence at this first-order transition. For this region, equilibrium spin-configurations and parameters of the multidomain states are derived as functions of the external magnetic field. The components of the magnetic susceptibility tensor are calculated for homogeneous and multidomain states in the vicinity of the spin-flop. The remarkable anomalies in these measurable quantities provide an efficient method to investigate magnetic states and to determine materials parameters in bulk and confined antiferromagnets, as well as in nanoscale synthetic antiferromagnets. The method is demonstrated for experimental data on the magnetic properties near the spin-flop region in the orthorhombic layered antiferromagnet (C_2H_5NH_3)_2CuCl_4.Comment: (15 pages, 12 figures; 2nd version: improved notation and figures, correction of various typos

New Perturbation Theory for Nonstationary Anharmonic Oscillator

The new perturbation theory for the problem of nonstationary anharmonic oscillator with polynomial nonstationary perturbation is proposed. As a zero order approximation the exact wave function of harmonic oscillator with variable frequency in external field is used. Based on some intrinsic properties of unperturbed wave function the variational-iterational method is proposed, that make it possible to correct both the amplitude and the phase of wave function. As an application the first order correction are proposed both for wave function and S-matrix elements for asymmetric perturbation potential of type $V(x,\tau)=\alpha (\tau)x^3+\beta (\tau)x^4.$ The transition amplitude ''ground state - ground state'' $W_{00}(\lambda ;\rho)$ is analyzed in detail depending on perturbation parameter $\lambda$ (including strong coupling region $$ $\sim 1$) and one-dimensional refraction coefficient $\rho$.Comment: LaTeX, 13 page