Ferroelectricity induced by acentric spin-density waves in YMn2O5

The commensurate and incommensurate magnetic structures of the magnetoelectric system YMn2O5, as determined from neutron diffraction, were found to be spin-density waves lacking a global center of symmetry. We propose a model, based on a simple magnetoelastic coupling to the lattice, which enables us to predict the polarization based entirely on the observed magnetic structure. Our data accurately reproduce the temperature dependence of the spontaneous polarization, particularly its sign reversal at the commensurate-incommensurate transition.     

Geometry of dislocated de Broglie waves

The geometrical structures implicit in the de Broglie waves associated with a relativistic charged scalar quantum mechanical particle in an external field are analyzed by employing the ray concept of the causal interpretation. It is shown how an osculating Finslerian metric tensor, a torsion tensor, and a tetrad field define respectively the strain, the dislocation density, and the Burgers vector in the natural state of the wave, which is a non-Riemannian space of distant parallelism. A quantum torque determined by the quantum potential is introduced and the example of a screw dislocated wave is discussed.     

Oscillatory exchange bias due to an antiferromagnet with incommensurate spin-density waves

Oscillatory exchange bias in both magnitude and in sign has been observed in epitaxial (100)Cr/Ni(81)Fe19 bilayers due to the incommensurate spin-density waves in antiferromagnetic (100)Cr layers. Salient effects due to the spin-flip transition between longitudinal and transverse spin-density waves as well as that of expanding wavelength have been observed.     

The phase diagram of charge- and spin-density waves in polymeric C60

\chem{(C_{60})_{\chemindex{x}}} at interfullerene distances larger than . At smaller ball separation, a special charge-density-wave ground state occurs, which exhibits polarized spheres. At around experimental bond distances, both CDW and SDW are present with rather small amplitudes. Received: 13 September 1996/Accepted: 11 November 1996     

Tunnel characteristics of partially gapped non-superconducting metals with charge- or spin-density waves

Current-voltage characteristics for symmetrical and non-symmetrical tunnel junctions involving non-superconducting partially dielectrized metals are calculated. Root singularities at eV = ±Σ and jumps at eV = ±2Σ, where V is the bias voltage, Σ is the dielectric gap, and e is the elementary charge, are obtained for symmetrical junctions. For non-symmetrical ones current-voltage characteristics are non-symmetrical and depend on the sign of Σ. The results obtained agree qualitatively with tunnel and point-contact measurements for layered dichalcogenides, NbSe₃, and URu₂Si₂.     

Thomson scattering induced by gravitational waves

We investigate the effects of a weak gravitational wave, modelled as a gaussian wavepacket, on the polarization state of an electromagnetic field enclosed in a cavity. Our approach is semiclassical, in that the electromagnetic field is described as a quantum field, while the gravitational perturbation is treated classically, as a slightly curved background spacetime. Assuming that before the interaction the electromagnetic field has been prepared in a given polarization state, we show that – due to the gravitational scattering with the wave – some photons having different polarization states are found in the cavity at late times. Such polarization scattering has some resemblance with Thomson scattering, well-known in Quantum Electrodynamics: hence the motivation for the title. We give a numerical estimate of the resulting photon polarization spreading in the case of a typical gravitational burst from a final supernova rebound. We also briefly comment about the possible influence of such gravitational scattering on the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization.     

Multiferroicity in Perovskite Manganite Superlattice

Multiferroic properties of short period perovskite type manganite superlattice ((R₁MnO₃)_n/(R₂MnO₃)_n (n=1,2,3)) are considered within the framework of classical Heisenberg model using Monte Carlo simulation. Our result revealed the interesting behaviors in Mn spins structure in superlattice. Apart from simple plane spin cycloid structure which is shown in all manganites including bulk, film, and superlattice here in low temperature, a non-coplanar spiral spin structure is exhibited in a certain temperature range when n equals 1, 2 or 3. Specific heat, spin-helicity vector, spin correlation function, spin-helicity correlation function, and spin configuration are calculated to confirm this non-coplanar spiral spin structure. These results are associated with the competition among exchange interaction, magnetic anisotropy, and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction.