Nucleation, instability, and discontinuous phase transitions in monoaxial helimagnets with oblique fields

The phase diagram of the monoaxial chiral helimagnet as a function of temperature (T ) and magnetic field with components perpendicular (H x ) and parallel (H z ) to the chiral axis is theoretically studied via the variational mean field approach in the continuum limit. A phase transition surface in the three dimensional thermodynamic space separates a chiral spatially modulated phase from a homogeneous forced ferromagnetic phase. The phase boundary is divided into three parts: two surfaces of second order transitions of instability and nucleation type, in De Gennes terminology, are separated by a surface of first order transitions. Two lines of tricritical points separate the first order surface from the second order surfaces. The divergence of the period of the modulated state on the nucleation transition surface has the logarithmic behavior typical of a chiral soliton lattice. The specific heat diverges on the nucleation surface as a power law with logarithmic corrections, while it shows a finite discontinuity on the other two surfaces. The soliton density curves are described by a universal function of H x if the values of T and H z determine a transition point lying on the nucleation surface; otherwise, they are not universal.Comment: Phase diagram refined, with a new tricritical point located; 9 pages, 8 figures; version shortened, published in Phys. Rev.

Understanding the H-T phase diagram of the mono-axial helimagnet

Some unexpected features of the phase diagram of the monoaxial helimagnet in presence of an applied magnetic field perpendicular to the chiral axis are theoretically predicted. A rather general hamiltonian with long range Heisenberg exchange and Dzyaloshinskii--Moriya interactions is considered. The continuum limit simplifies the free energy, which contains only a few parameters which in principle are determined by the many parameters of the hamiltonian, although in practice they may be tuned to fit the experiments. The phase diagram contains a Chiral Soliton Lattice phase and a forced ferromagnetic phase separated by a line of phase transitions, which are of second order at low T and of first order in the vicinity of the zero-field ordering temperature, and are separated by a tricritical point. A highly non linear Chiral Soliton Lattice, in which many harmonics contribute appreciably to the spatial modulation of the local magnetic moment, develops only below the tricritical temperature, and in this case the scaling shows a logarithmic behaviour similar to that at T=0, which is a universal feature of the Chiral Soliton Lattice. Below the tricritical temperature, the normalized soliton density curves are found to be independent of T, in agreement with the experimental results of magnetorresistance curves, while above the tricritical temperature they show a noticeable temperature dependence. The implications in the interpretation of experimental results of CrNb3S6 are discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 17 figures. Enlarged version, with more details and results. To be publisehd in Phys. Rev.

Crystal and magnetic structures of Cr1/3NbSe2 from neutron diffraction

Under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.-- et al.Neutron diffraction measurements of the Cr intercalated niobium diselenide CrNbSe together with magnetization measurements have revealed that this compound exhibits ferromagnetic ordering below T = 96 K unlike a chiral helimagnetic order observed in the sulfide compound CrNbS. As derived from neutron diffraction data, the Cr magnetic moments μ = 2.83 ± 0.03 μ in CrNbSe are aligned within basal plane. The discrepancy in the magnetic states of CrNbS and CrNbSe is ascribed to the difference in the preferential site occupation of Cr ions in crystal lattices. In CrNbSe, the Cr ions are predominantly distributed over 2b Wyckoff site, which determines a centrosymmetric character of the crystal structure unlike CrNbS, where the Cr ions are mainly located in 2c position and the crystal structure is non-centrosymmetric.This work is partly based on experiments performed at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex J-PARC. This work was performed within the state assignment of the FASO of Russia (No. 01201463334) and supported by Act 211 Government of the Russian Federation (Contract No. 02.A03.21.0006), by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Project Nos. 13-02-00364 and 13-02-92104), by the program of UB of RAS (Project No. 15-17-2-22), and by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (Nos. 25220803, 242440590, and 25246006) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan. This work was also supported by the Center for Chiral Science in Hiroshima University (the MEXT program for promoting the enhancement of research universities, Japan) and JSPS Core-to-Core Program, A. Advanced Research Networks. J.C. and Y.K. acknowledge the Grant No. MAT2011-27233-C02-02.Peer Reviewe

Observation of elastic anomalies driven by coexisting dynamical spin Jahn-Teller effect and dynamical molecular spin state in paramagnetic phase of the frustrated MgCr2_2O4_4$

Ultrasound velocity measurements of magnesium chromite spinel MgCr$_2$O$_4$ reveal elastic anomalies in the paramagnetic phase that are characterized as due to geometrical frustration. The temperature dependence of the tetragonal shear modulus $(C_{11}-C_{12})/2$ exhibits huge Curie-type softening, which should be the precursor to spin Jahn-Teller distortion in the antiferromagnetic phase. The trigonal shear modulus $C_{44}$ exhibits nonmonotonic temperature dependence with a characteristic minimum at $\sim$50 K, indicating a coupling of the lattice to dynamical molecular spin state. These results strongly suggest the coexistence of dynamical spin Jahn-Teller effect and dynamical molecular spin state in the paramagnetic phase, which is compatible with the coexistence of magnetostructural order and dynamical molecular spin state in the antiferromagnetic phase.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Incommensurate-commensurate transitions in the monoaxial chiral helimagnet driven by the magnetic field

Under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license.-- et al.The zero-temperature phase diagram of the monoaxial chiral helimagnet in the magnetic-field plane formed by the components parallel and perpendicular to the helical axis is thoroughly analyzed. The nature of the transition to the commensurate state depends on the angle between the field and the helical axis. For field directions close to the directions parallel or perpendicular to the helical axis the transition is continuous, while for intermediate angles the transition is discontinuous and the incommensurate and commensurate states coexist on the transition line. The continuous and discontinuous transition lines are separated by two tricritical points with specific singular behavior. The location of the continuous and discontinuous lines and of the tricritical points depend strongly on the easy-plane anisotropy, the effect of which is analyzed. For high anisotropy the conical approximation locates the transition line very accurately, although it does not predict the continuous transitions and the tricritical behavior. It is shown that for high anisotropy, as in CrNb3S6, the form of the transition line is universal, that is, independent of the sample, and obeys a simple equation. The position of the tricritical points, which is not universal, is theoretically estimated for a sample of CrNb3S6.J.C. and V.L. acknowledge Grant No. MAT2015-68200-C2-2-P from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. The work of A. S. Ovchinnikov was supported by the Government of the Russian Federation Program (02.A03.21.0006) and by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (Project Nos. 1437 and 2725).Peer Reviewe

Incommensurate--commensurate transitions in the mono-axial chiral helimagnet driven by the magnetic field

The zero temperature phase diagram of the mono-axial chiral helimagnet in the magnetic field plane formed by the components parallel and perpendicular to the helical axis is thoroughly analyzed. The nature of the transition to the commensurate state depends on the angle between the field and the helical axis. For field directions close to the directions parallel or perpendicular to the helical axis the transition is continuous, while for intermediate angles the transition is discontinuous and the incommensurate and commensurate states coexist on the transition line. The continuous and discontinuous transition lines are separated by two tricritical points with specific singular behaviour. The location of the continuous and discontinuous lines and of the tricritical points depend strongly on the easy-plane anisotropy, the effect of which is analyzed. For large anisotropy the conical approximation locates the transition line very accurately, although it does not predict the continuous transitions nor the tricitical behaviour. It is shown that for large anisotropy, as in CrNb3S6, the form of the transition line is universal, that is, independent of the sample, and obeys a simple equation. The position of the tricritical points, which is not universal, is theoretically estimated for a sample of CrNb3S6Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure

Chiral Soliton Lattice Formation in Monoaxial Helimagnet Yb(Ni1−x_{1-x}Cux_x)3_3Al9_9

Helical magnetic structures and its responses to external magnetic fields in Yb(Ni$_x$Cu$_{1-x}$)$_3$Al$_9$, with a chiral crystal structure of the space group $R32$, have been investigated by resonant X-ray diffraction. It is shown that the crystal chirality is reflected to the helicity of the magnetic structure by a one to one relationship, indicating that there exists an antisymmetric exchange interaction mediated via the conduction electrons. When a magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the helical axis ($c$ axis), the second harmonic peak of $(0, 0, 2q)$ develops with increasing the field. The third harmonic peak of $(0, 0, 3q)$ has also been observed for the $x$=0.06 sample. This result provides a strong evidence for the formation of a chiral magnetic soliton lattice state, a periodic array of the chiral twist of spins, which has been suggested by the characteristic magnetization curve. The helical ordering of magnetic octupole moments, accompanying with the magnetic dipole order, has also been detected.Comment: 13 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication in J. Phys. Soc. Jp

Order and disorder in the magnetisation of the chiral crystal CrNb3S6

Competing magnetic anisotropies in chiral crystals with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya exchange interactions can give rise to nontrivial chiral topological magnetization configurations with new and interesting properties. One such configuration is the magnetic soliton, where the moment continuously rotates about an axis. This magnetic system can be considered to be one dimensional and, because of this, it supports a macroscale coherent magnetization, giving rise to a tunable chiral soliton lattice (CSL) that is of potential use in a number of applications in nanomagnetism and spintronics. In this paper, we characterize the transitions between the forced-ferromagnetic (F-FM) phase and the CSL one in CrNb3S6 using differential phase contrast imaging in a scanning transmission electron microscope, conventional Fresnel imaging, ferromagnetic resonance spectroscopy, and mean-field modeling. We find that the formation and movement of dislocations mediate the formation of CSL and F-FM regions and that these strongly influence the highly hysteretic static and dynamic properties of the system. Sample size and morphology can be used to tailor the properties of the system and, with the application of magnetic field, to locate and stabilize normally unstable dislocations and modify their dimensions and magnetic configurations in ways beyond that predicted to occur in uniform films

Spin polarization gate device based on the chirality-induced spin selectivity and robust nonlocal spin polarization

Nonlocal spin polarization phenomena are thoroughly investigated in the devices made of chiral metallic single crystals of CrNb$_3$S$_6$ and NbSi$_2$ as well as of polycrystalline NbSi$_2$. We demonstrate that simultaneous injection of charge currents in the opposite ends of the device with the nonlocal setup induces the switching behavior of spin polarization in a controllable manner. Such a nonlocal spin polarization appears regardless of the difference in the materials and device dimensions, implying that the current injection in the nonlocal configuration splits spin-dependent chemical potentials throughout the chiral crystal even though the current is injected into only a part of the crystal. We show that the proposed model of the spin dependent chemical potentials explains the experimental data successfully. The nonlocal double-injection device may offer significant potential to control the spin polarization to large areas because of the nature of long-range nonlocal spin polarization in chiral materials.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

Chirality-selected crystal growth and spin polarization over centimeters of transition metal disilicide crystals

We performed a chirality-controlled crystal growth of transition metal disilicide NbSi$_{2}$ and TaSi$_{2}$ by using a laser-diode-heated floating zone (LDFZ) method. The crystal chirality was evaluated in the crystals of centimeters in length by performing single crystal X-ray diffraction as well as probing a spin polarization originating from chirality-induced spin selectivity (CISS) effect. The crystals of right-handed NbSi$_{2}$ and of left-handed TaSi$_{2}$ were obtained in the conventional LDFZ crystal growth, while the left-handed NbSi$_{2}$ and right-handed TaSi$_{2}$ crystals were grown by the LDFZ method with the composition-gradient feed rods. The spin polarization via the CISS was observed over centimeters in the NbSi$_{2}$ single crystals and the sign of the CISS signals was dependent on the chirality of crystals. The correlation between the crystal chirality and CISS signals indicates that the CISS measurements work as a non-destructive method for chirality determination even in centimeter-long specimens.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure