Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and spin reorientation transition in the frustrated kagome lattice antiferromagnet

Abstract

Magnetization, specific heat, and neutron scattering measurements were performed to study a magnetic transition in jarosite, a spin-5 2 kagome lattice antiferromagnet. When a magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the kagome plane, magnetizations in the ordered state show a sudden increase at a critical field Hc, indicative of the transition from antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic states. This sudden increase arises as the spins on alternate kagome planes rotate 180• to ferromagnetically align the canted moments along the field direction. The canted moment on a single kagome plane is a result of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. For H < Hc, the weak ferromagnetic interlayer coupling forces the spins to align in such an arrangement that the canted components on any two adjacent layers are equal and opposite, yielding a zero net magnetic moment. For H > Hc, the Zeeman energy overcomes the interlayer coupling causing the spins on the alternate layers to rotate, aligning the canted moments along the field direction. Neutron scattering measurements provide the first direct evidence of this 180• spin rotation at the transition.

Correlated impurities and intrinsic spin-liquid physics in the kagome material herbertsmithite

“…1(d), diffuse peaks are seen at the (00 [12,13]. The diffuse peak at L = 3 2 has the same position along L as the magnetic Bragg peaks in iron jarosite [15,16] where long-range order yields a magnetic cell that is doubled along the caxis [17]. In contrast, the scattering at a higher energy of ω = 1.3 meV ( Fig.…”

Low-field anomalous magnetic phase in the kagome-lattice shandite Co3Sn2S2

“…For instance, an antiferromagnetically coupled spin system on the kagomé lattice is highly frustrated and exhibits a quantum disordered spin-liquid state 1 and novel magnetically ordered states with nontrivial spin textures [2][3][4][5] . The geometric spin frustration is one of the most intriguing issues in recent condensed-matter physics [6][7][8][9] . The asymmetric Dzaloshinski-Moriya (DM) interaction is another driving force to nontrivial spin textures in the kagomé magnets [8][9][10][11] .…”

“…The geometric spin frustration is one of the most intriguing issues in recent condensed-matter physics [6][7][8][9] . The asymmetric Dzaloshinski-Moriya (DM) interaction is another driving force to nontrivial spin textures in the kagomé magnets [8][9][10][11] . The DM interaction can stabilize noncollinear ferro-and antiferromagnetic orders, resulting in spiral or canted spin structures.…”

Noncollinear density functional theory having proper invariance and local torque properties

“…Second, materials that display this type of idealized lattice have been realized experimentally. 3,8,10 To the best of our knowledge, the theoretical treatment of these systems has not been attempted with realistic electronic structure Hamiltonians, but rather with models such as the Heisenberg Hamiltonian. [44][45][46][47] Because of the complex chemical environment in real materials, we believe that a fully ab initio treatment, as provided by our formalism, is important in studying such systems.…”

“…This type of behavior is known and has been observed in, for example, bulk γ -Fe, geometrically spin-frustrated lattices as jarosites, halogen salts of erbium, and surfaces. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] The nontrivial problem of going beyond collinear SDFT to account for spin noncollinearity has been of much recent concern. Even though the extension can be formally derived in terms of the total density and the full magnetization vector, 11 this approach has not yet directly benefited from the knowledge and experience accrued in the development of collinear SDFT functionals.…”