302 research outputs found
Pinning of magnetic domain walls in multiferroics
The behavior of antiferromagnetic domain wall (ADW) against the background of
a periodic ferroelectric domain structure has been investigated. It has been
shown that the structure and the energy of ADW change due to the interaction
with a ferroelectric domain structure. The ferroelectric domain boundaries play
the role of pins for magnetic spins, the spin density changes in the vicinity
of ferroelectric walls. The ADW energy becomes a periodical function on a
coordinate which is the position of ADW relative to the ferroelectric domain
structure. It has been shown that the energy of the magnetic domain wall
attains minimum values when the center of the ADW coincides with the
ferroelectric wall and the periodic ferroelectric structure creates periodic
coercitivity for the ADW. The neighbouring equilibrium states of the ADW are
separated by a finite potential barrier.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Density of Neutral Solitons in Weakly Disordered Peierls Chains
We study the effects of weak off-diagonal disorder on Peierls systems with a
doubly degenerate ground state. We show that for these systems disorder in the
electron hopping amplitudes induces a finite density of solitons in the
minimal-energy lattice configuration of a single chain. These disorder-induced
dimerization kinks are neutral and have spin 1/2. Using a continuum model for
the Peierls chain and treating the lattice classically, we analytically
calculate the average free energy and density of kinks. We compare these
results to numerical calculations for a discrete model and discuss the
implications of the kinks for the optical and magnetic properties of the
conjugated polymer trans-polyacetylene.Comment: 28 pages, revtex, 5 Postscript figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Critical temperature and density of spin-flips in the anisotropic random field Ising model
We present analytical results for the strongly anisotropic random field Ising
model, consisting of weakly interacting spin chains. We combine the mean-field
treatment of interchain interactions with an analytical calculation of the
average chain free energy (``chain mean-field'' approach). The free energy is
found using a mapping on a Brownian motion model. We calculate the order
parameter and give expressions for the critical random magnetic field strength
below which the ground state exhibits long range order and for the critical
temperature as a function of the random magnetic field strength. In the limit
of vanishing interchain interactions, we obtain corrections to the
zero-temperature estimate by Imry and Ma [Phys. Rev. Lett. 35, 1399 (1975)] of
the ground state density of domain walls (spin-flips) in the one-dimensional
random field Ising model. One of the problems to which our model has direct
relevance is the lattice dimerization in disordered quasi-one-dimensional
Peierls materials, such as the conjugated polymer trans-polyacetylene.Comment: 28 pages, revtex, 4 postscript figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Ordering in Two-Dimensional Ising Models with Competing Interactions
We study the 2D Ising model on a square lattice with additional non-equal
diagonal next-nearest neighbor interactions. The cases of classical and quantum
(transverse) models are considered. Possible phases and their locations in the
space of three Ising couplings are analyzed. In particular, incommensurate
phases occurring only at non-equal diagonal couplings, are predicted. We also
analyze a spin-pseudospin model comprised of the quantum Ising model coupled to
XY spin chains in a particular region of interactions, corresponding to the
Ising sector's super-antiferromagnetic (SAF) ground state. The spin-SAF
transition in the coupled Ising-XY model into a phase with co-existent SAF
Ising (pseudospin) long-range order and a spin gap is considered. Along with
destruction of the quantum critical point of the Ising sector, the phase digram
of the Ising-XY model can also demonstrate a re-entrance of the spin-SAF phase.
A detailed study of the latter is presented. The mechanism of the re-entrance,
due to interplay of interactions in the coupled model, and the conditions of
its appearance are established. Applications of the spin-SAF theory for the
transition in the quarter-filled ladder compound NaV2O5 are discussed.Comment: Minor revisions and refs. added; published version of the invited
paper in a special issue of "Low Temp. Physics
Coupling of frustrated Ising spins to magnetic cycloid in multiferroic TbMnO3
We report on diffraction measurements on multiferroic TbMnO3 which
demonstrate that the Tb- and Mn-magnetic orders are coupled below the
ferroelectric transition TFE = 28 K. For T < TFE the magnetic propagation
vectors (tau) for Tb and Mn are locked so that tauTb = tauMn, while below TNTb
= 7 K we find that tauTb and tauMn lock-in to rational values of 3/7 b* and 2/7
b*, respectively, and obey the relation 3tauTb - tauMn = 1. We explain this
novel matching of wave vectors within the frustrated ANNNI model coupled to a
periodic external field produced by the Mn-spin order. The tauTb = tauMn
behavior is recovered when Tb magnetization is small, while the tauTb = 3/7
regime is stabilized at low temperatures by a peculiar arrangement of domain
walls in the ordered state of Ising-like Tb spins.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Temperature-Dependent Magnetoelectric Effect from First Principles
We show that nonrelativistic exchange interactions and spin fluctuations can give rise to a linear magnetoelectric effect in collinear antiferromagnets at elevated temperatures that can exceed relativistic magnetoelectric responses by more than 1 order of magnitude. We show how symmetry arguments, ab initio methods, and Monte Carlo simulations can be combined to calculate temperature-dependent magnetoelectric susceptibilities entirely from first principles. The application of our method to Cr2O3 gives quantitative agreement with experiment.
Electron-phonon and spin-phonon coupling in NaVO: charge fluctuations effect
We show that the asymmetric crystal environment of the V site in the ladder
compound NaVO leads to a strong coupling of vanadium 3d electrons
to phonons. This coupling causes fluctuations of the charge on the V ions, and
favors a transition to a charge-ordered state at low temperatures. In the low
temperature phase the charge fluctuations modulate the spin-spin superexchange
interaction, resulting in a strong spin-phonon coupling.Comment: Europhysics Letters, to be publishe
Orbital ordering in frustrated Jahn-Teller systems
We consider the superexchange in `frustrated' Jahn-Teller systems, such as
the transition metal oxides NaNiO_2, LiNiO_2, and ZnMn_2O_4, in which
transition metal ions with doubly degenerate orbitals form a triangular or
pyrochlore lattice and are connected by the 90-degree metal-oxygen-metal bonds.
We show that this interaction is much different from a more familiar exchange
in systems with the 180-degree bonds, e.g. perovskites. In contrast to the
strong interplay between the orbital and spin degrees of freedom in
perovskites, in the 90-degree exchange systems spins and orbitals are
decoupled: the spin exchange is much weaker than the orbital one and it is
ferromagnetic for all orbital states. Due to frustration, the mean-field
orbital ground state is strongly degenerate. Quantum orbital fluctuations
select particular ferro-orbital states, such as the one observed in NaNiO_2. We
also discuss why LiNiO_2 may still behave as an orbital liquid.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
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