Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya driven helical-butterfly structure in Ba3NbFe3Si2O

V. Scagnoli

¹

,

S. W. Huang

²

,

M. Garganourakis

³

et al.

Abstract

International audienceWe have used soft x-ray magnetic diffraction at the Fe3+ L2,3 edges to examine to what extent the Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction in Ba3NbFe3Si2O14 influences its low-temperature magnetic structure. A modulated component of the moments along the c axis is present, adding to the previously proposed helical magnetic configuration of coplanar moments in the a,b plane. This leads to a "helical-butterfly" structure and suggests that both the multiaxial in-plane and the uniform out-of-plane Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya vectors are relevant. A nonzero orbital magnetic signal is also observed at the oxygen K edge, which reflects the surprisingly strong hybridization between iron 3d and oxygen 2p states, given the nominal spherical symmetry of the Fe3+ half-filled shell

Nuclear and magnetic supercells in the multiferroic candidate: Pb3TeMn3P2O14

“…From the perspective of neutron scattering using enantiopure single crystals, it was determined that the moments lie within the ab plane and propagate in a circular helix along the c axis with propagation vector l¼ (0, 0, 0.142) [8,9]. Using resonant x-ray scattering it was found that there is an additional small c axis component that modulates with a sine curve along l [22], but Fig. 9.…”

“…Here, k 0 is of the same form found in Ba 3 NbFe 3 Si 2 O 14 . Using this approximation, a magnetic structure refinement was made using IR Γ 1 with k 0 in accordance with Ba 3 NbFe 3 Si 2 O 14 [22], where all moments were constrained to point within the ab plane (Fig. 5).…”

“…The role of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction regarding the polarization in this material has been discussed in numerous studies [3,8,9,[18][19][20]21]. Recently, it was determined that "butterfly modulations" in the magnetic structure are driven by the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, emphasizing its relevancy within these materials [22]. Alternatively, some studies have suggested a lowering of the symmetry from P321 to C2 at T N , although this has not been detected using diffraction [23].…”

Magnetic control of ferroelectric polarization in a self-formed single magnetoelectric domain of multiferroic Ba3NbFe3Si2O14

“…One sort of spin chirality which is selected by the sign of DM (Dzyaloshinsky-Moria) vector,D, in the antisymmetric DM interactioñ D ÁS i ÂS j , fixes the spin helicity. 13 Thus, the magnetic ground state in zero magnetic field forms a single magnetic domain which was observed by the neutron diffraction 14,15 and electron spin resonance (ESR) 16 experiments.…”

Chirality of structure and magnetism in the magnetoelectric compound <span class="aps-inline-formula"><math><msub><mi>Cu</mi><mn>2</mn></msub><msub><mi>OSeO</mi><mn>3</mn></msub></math></span>

“…Prominent examples include Cr 1/3 NbS 2 (space group P 6 3 22) [36] and the trigonal chiral compound Ba 3 NbFe 3 Si 2 O 14 (space group P 321) [37][38][39], which displays structurally enantiopure crystals with single magnetic chirality. The accumulation of experimental data on the coupling between structural and magnetic chiralities is a necessary condition not only for understanding the underlying microscopic mechanisms but also for developing the control of exotic magnetic textures as is widely discussed in the context of potential spintronics applications [18,40].…”