Cubic helimagnets in magnetic field and at pressure

Cubic helimagnets with B20 structure display several unusual properties such as anisotropy of the spin-wave spectrum al small momenta q, rotation of the helix vector k in magnetic field and quantum phase transition at pressure. We demonstrate that first two phenomena are a result of umklapp processes mixing excitations with momenta q, q+k and q−k. At very low magnetic field perpendicular to k the helical structure remains stable due to spin-wave gap Δ. Its square is sum of two parts. The first one is a result of the magnon interaction and the second negative part stems from magneto-elastic interaction. It is suggested that competition between these parts leads to the quantum phase transition observed in MnSi and FeGe. For MnSi from rough estimations at ambient pressure was shown that both parts are comparable with the experimentally observed gap. The magneto-elastic interaction is also responsible for 2k modulation of the lattice and contributes to the magnetic anisotropy. Experimental observation by X-ray and neutron scattering of this lattice modulation allows to determine the strength of the magneto-elastic interaction responsible for above phenomena and the lattice helicity.