Photoinduced changes in the space-modulated magnetic order of a FeBO3:Mg single crystal

Abstract

An effect of nonpolarized white light on the modulated magnetic structure of a FeBO 3 :Mg single crystal, which arises in this light-plane weak ferromagnet in the low temperature range during technical magnetization, has been revealed. It has been found that the degree of the light action on the magnetic state of FeBO 3 :Mg depends both on its duration and on the orientation of the spontaneous magnetization vector M of the crystal during illumination. Interpretation of the results obtained has been performed in the context of the "magnetic ripple" theory on the assumption that the absorbed light induces additional uniaxial magnetic anisotropy in the easy plane of the crystal and that the anisotropy axis is collinear to the vector M during illumination.