Elastic properties of magnetic materials

This review discusses the theoretical aspects of magnetoelastic coupling with emphasis on the magnetic perturbation of elastic properties. The basic theory of magnetostriction is set out with application to ferromagnets, ferrimagnets and antiferromagnets, and is followed by a discussion of the physical origin of the magnetoelastic coupling coefficients in both localized and itinerant magnetic systems. Magnetic contributions to elastic compliance are then discussed and sound velocity anomalies near magnetic phase transitions investigated, including the cooperative Jahn-Teller limit for which the acoustic mode itself drives a structural transition even when magnetic ordering does not occur. The review concludes with discussion of magnetoelastic (or mixed magnon-phonon) waves in low temperature magnetically ordered phases and with a study of local striction phenomena in magnetically dilute materials. The latter leads to a recognition of internal rearrangement modes which may also be present in concentrated magnetic systems, and which may or may not couple significantly to bulk homogenous strain.