Magnetic Phase Transition in MnSi on the Base of the LSDA + U + SO Calculations of the Electronic Structure and the Spin-Fluctuation Theory

Spin states appearing near the magnetic phase transition in helicoidal ferromagnet MnSi are studied on the basis of the spin-fluctuation theory and the LSDA + U + SO calculations of the electronic structure. The temperature dependence of the uniform magnetic susceptibility is calculated near the magnetic phase transition temperature, and the result agrees well with the experiment. Spin correlators corresponding to various solutions of the equation of magnetic state are determined in the region of the magnetic phase transition expanded in temperature. It is shown that, in this region, a helicoidal short-range order appears in the form of the superposition of left and right spin spirals with stochastic weight coefficients. It is shown that the magnetic susceptibility divergences on the helicoid wave vector at the temperature of disappearance of local magnetization and during the transition to the paramagnetic state.     

Effect of chiral solute on the smectic a to C phase transition of second order

The Landau theory is applied to explain the helicoidal effect of a chiral solute on an ordinary smectic C state below a smectic A-C phase transition of second order. It is shown that T_c increases with the concentration c of the solute, for small c. We suggest that a simultaneous application of electric and magnetic fields perpendicular to the smectic layers might, in some cases, also make the C phase helicoidal.     

First-order phase transition from an antiferromagnetic ferroelectric to a cycloidal multiferroic with weak ferromagnetism during the joint action of applied magnetic and electric fields

The thermodynamics of the phase transition in a perovskite-like multiferroic, in which an antiferromagnetic ferroelectric transforms into a new magnetic state where a spiral spin structure and weak ferromagnetism can coexist in applied magnetic field H, is described. This state forms as a result of a first-order phase transition at a certain temperature (below Néel temperature T _N ), where a helicoidal magnetic structure appears due to the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya effect. In this case, the axes of electric polarization and the helicoid of magnetic moments are mutually perpendicular and lie in the ab plane, which is normal to principal axis c. Additional electric polarization p, which decreases the total polarization of the ferroelectric P, appears in the ab plane. The effect of applied magnetic and electric fields on the properties of a multiferroic with a helicoidal magnetic structure is described. An alternating electric field is shown to cause a field-linear change in magnetic moment m, whose sign is opposite to the sign of the change of electric field E. The detected hysteretic phenomena that determine the temperature ranges of overheating and supercooling of each phase are explained. A comparison with the experimental data is performed.     

Orientational transitions in antiferromagnetic liquid crystals

The orientational phases in an antiferromagnetic liquid crystal (ferronematic) based on the nematic liquid crystal with the negative anisotropy of diamagnetic susceptibility are studied in the framework of the continuum theory. The ferronematic was assumed to be compensated; i.e., in zero field, impurity ferroparticles with the magnetic moments directed parallel and antiparallel to the director are equiprobably distributed in it. It is established that under the action of a magnetic field the ferronematic undergoes orientational transitions compensated (antiferromagnetic) phase–non-uniform phase–saturation (ferrimagnetic) phase. The analytical expressions for threshold fields of the transitions as functions of material parameters are obtained. It is shown that with increasing magnetic impurity segregation parameter, the threshold fields of the transitions significantly decrease. The bifurcation diagram of the ferronematic orientational phases is built in terms of the energy of anchoring of magnetic particles with the liquid-crystal matrix and magnetic field. It is established that the Freedericksz transition is the second-order phase transition, while the transition to the saturation state can be second- or first-order. In the latter case, the suspension exhibits orientational bistability. The orientational and magnetooptical properties of the ferronematic in different applied magnetic fields are studied.     

Lightly doped La2-xSrxCuO4 as a Lifshitz helimagnet

We study the static magnetic correlations in lightly doped La2-xSrxCuO4 within the framework of a dipolar frustration model for a canted antiferromagnet. We show that the stability of the canted Néel state for x < 2% is due to the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya and XY anisotropies. For higher doping, the ground state is unstable towards a helicoidal magnetic phase, where the transverse components of the staggered magnetization rotate in a plane perpendicular to the orthorhombic b axis. Our theory reconciles, for the first time, the incommensurate peaks observed in elastic neutron scattering with Raman and magnetic susceptibility experiments in La2-xSrxCuO4 .     

Electronic structure and magnetic phase transition in MnSi

Temperature variations of the amplitude of zero-point and thermal spin fluctuations in a helicoidal ferromagnetic (MnSi) are characterized using the electronic structure model that follows from ab initio LDA + U + SO calculations. It is found that a drastic reduction in the amplitude of zero-point spin fluctuations at temperature T _S (in the vicinity of the magnetic phase transition) leads to ferromagnetic solution instability (a change in the sign of the intermode interaction parameter). The observed magnetovolume effect and a sharp change in the radius of spin correlations have the same underlying cause. The results of calculation of the volumetric coefficient of thermal expansion agree well with the observed anomaly in the region of the magnetic phase transition.     

New magnetic states in copper metaborate CuB<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>4</Subscript>

The static and resonance properties of copper metaborate CuB₂O₄ were experimentally studied in a magnetic field applied in the crystal tetragonal plane. The field-induced second-order phase transition to a weakly ferromagnetic state was observed in the temperature range 10–20 K. The low-field state is characterized by the absence of spontaneous moment, and it represents, presumably, a long-period helicoid. At temperatures below 2 K, two sequential first-order phase transitions were observed. They were accompanied by jumps in resonance absorption with a hysteresis upon changing field-scan direction. These transitions can be caused by the transformation of the incommensurate spin structure into the helicoidal states with periods commensurate with the lattice translation period.     

Effective constitutive parameters of plane-stratified bianisotropic structures

The method of 4×4 matrices is used to determine the effective constitutive parameters of a plane-stratified bianisotropic structure without any restrictions on the ratio of the period of the structure to the wavelength. The effective dielectric, magnetic, and magnetoelectric constants of isotropic two-layer and anisotropic helicoidal structures are found in the resonant case.     

Optical vortices in the scattering field of magnetic domain holograms

Experimental investigations and theoretical-model analyses have been made of the magnetooptic diffraction of light at ferrite garnet magnetic films with a banded domain structure which includes isolated magnetic grating defects in the form of “forks” and “breaks.” An analysis of the magnetic grating structure and the light diffraction field shows that in terms of its action on laser radiation, a banded domain grating is similar to a computer-synthesized phase hologram of an isolated pure screw-wavefront dislocation. It is shown that as a result of magnetooptic diffraction at a magnetic hologram, optical vortices may be reconstructed with a helicoidal wavefront carrying the topological charge l=±1,±2. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 68, 54–58 (December 1998)     

Optical activity in media with noncoplanar magnetization distribution

Natural optical activity in magnetic media for which the exchange interaction dominates is studied theoretically. It is shown using a phenomenological theory that the optical activity effect can be observed in a medium with a nonuniform noncoplanar magnetization distribution without an inversion center. A microscopic theory of the optical activity is constructed for a medium with a helicoidal magnetic structure.     

Current-induced torques due to compensated antiferromagnets

We analyze the influence of current-induced torques on the magnetization configuration of a ferromagnet in a circuit containing a compensated antiferromagnet. We argue that these torques are generically nonzero and determine their form by considering spin-dependent scattering at a compensated antiferromagnetic interface. Because of symmetry dictated differences in the form of the current-induced torque, the phase diagram which expresses the dependence of the ferromagnetic configuration on the current and external magnetic field differs qualitatively from its ferromagnet-only counterpart.     

Incommensurate magnetic structures in rhombohedral Heisenberg antiferromagnet

The phase diagram of the ground state has been calculated for a rhombohedral antiferromagnet of the R3m symmetry with frustrated exchange in the base plane and competition of exchanges between the nearest and next-nearest planes. The diagram contains phases of collinear antiferromagnetic ordering of various types separated by five incommensurate magnetic states of the helicoidal type, differing in the ordering type and in the direction of the modulation vector. The commensurate and incommensurate phases converge at multi-critical points lying on a line corresponding to an antiferromagnet with an undistorted simple cubic lattice.     

Reentrant phases in compensated ferrocholesterics

Influence of magnetic field on orientation and magnetic properties of a compensated ferrocholesteric, a suspension of needle-like ferromagnetic particles in a cholesteric liquid crystal, was studied theoretically. A phase transition from a ferrocholesteric to a ferronematic state in a magnetic field oriented normally to the axis of the helical structure was considered. The dependences of the transition field to the ferronematic phase on the material parameters of the suspension and of the helical structure pitch and magnetization on the field strength were investigated. A possibility of existence of a reentrant ferrocholesteric phase was shown.

     

Deduction of the temperature-dependent structure of the four-layer intermediate smectic phase using resonant X-ray scattering

A binary mixture of an antiferroelectric liquid-crystal material containing a selenium atom and a highly chiral dopant is investigated using resonant X-ray scattering. This mixture exhibits a remarkably wide four-layer intermediate smectic phase, the structure of which is investigated over a temperature range of 16K. Analysis of the resonant X-ray scattering data allows accurate measurement of both the helicoidal pitch and the distortion angle as a function of temperature. The former decreases rapidly as the SmC ^* phase is approached, whilst the latter remains constant over the temperature range studied at 8^°±3^° . We also observe that the senses of the helicoidal pitch and the unit cell of the repeating four-layer structure are opposite in this mixture and that there is no pitch inversion over the temperature range studied.     

Absorption of electromagnetic radiation by systems with a noncollinear magnetization distribution

The high-frequency absorption of electromagnetic radiation in systems with a noncollinear spatial magnetization distribution has been calculated. A medium with a helicoidal magnetic structure and a superlattice whose period contains two layers with noncollinear magnetizations are considered. An additional absorption peak related to the electron transitions from one spin subband to another under the action of a variable linearly polarized electric field is shown to appear in such systems at frequencies near the spin splitting of the conduction band.     

Helicoidal fields and spin polarized currents in carbon nanotube-DNA hybrids

We report on theoretical studies of electronic transport in the archetypical molecular hybrid formed by DNA wrapped around single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Using a Green's function formalism in a π-orbital tight-binding representation, we investigate the role that spin-orbit interactions play on the CNT in the case of the helicoidal electric field induced by the polar nature of the adsorbed DNA molecule. We find that spin polarization of the current can take place in the absence of magnetic fields, depending strongly on the direction of the wrapping and length of the helicoidal field. These findings open new routes for using CNTs in spintronic devices.     

Helicoidal structure of the mixed ferrite-spinel Zn0.75Ni0.25Fe2O4

The mixed Zn_0.75Ni_0.25Fe₂O₄ ferrite was studied by the neutronographic method within the temperature region of 1.8–77 K. It is shown that besides the usual ferrimagnetic order at 1.8 K there exist superstructure reflections. The experimental results are treated in the framework of the helicoidal magnetic structure. The transition temperatures and some other parameters of the magnetic structure are given. The results of calculation are in good agreement with the experimental data.     

Inhomogeneous configurations in the Lifshitz-type improper incommensurate ferroelectric thin films

The model with the Lifshitz invariant for periodic and helicoidal structures has been analyzed without neglecting of the amplitude function oscillations considering the amplitude and phase functions as equal in significance variables. We have shown that this approach gives significantly richer picture of the order parameter phase and amplitude distribution, than in the approximation of the constant amplitude. The amplitude function oscillations are shown to be extremely important for finding of the phase function distribution in a thin film. Along with numerical calculations, analytic consideration is carried out in the limit of small anisotropy. Both regular and chaotic regimes are studied.     

The motion of a classical spinning particle in a Riemann-Cartan space-time

A consistent set of equations of motion for classical charged particles with spin and magnetic dipole moment in a Riemann-Cartan space-time is generated from a constrained Lagrangian formalism. The equations avoid the spurious free helicoidal solutions and at the same time conserve the canonical condition of normalization of the 4-velocity. The 4-velocity and the mechanical moment are parallel in this theory, where the condition of orthogonality between spin and 4-velocity is treated as a nonholonomic constraint. A generalized BMT precession equation is obtained as one of the results of the formalism.