Detailed investigation of the incommensurate magnetic ordering in a single crystal of multiferroic NdMn2O5 has been performed using both non-polarized and polarized neutron diffraction techniques. Below TN = 30.5 K magnetic Bragg reflections corresponding to the non-chiral type magnetic structure with propagation vector k1 = (0.5 0 kz1) occurs. Below about 27 K a new distorted magnetic modulation with a similar vector kz2 occurs, which is attributed to the magnetization of the Nd3+ ions by the Mn-sub-lattice. Strong temperature hysteresis in the occurrence of the incommensurate magnetic phases in NdMn2O5 was observed depending on the cooling or heating history of the sample. Below about 20 K the magnetic structure became of a chiral type. From spherical neutron polarimetry measurements, the resulting low-temperature magnetic structure kz3 was approximated by the general elliptic helix. The parameters of the magnetic helix-like ellipticity and helical plane orientation in regard to the crystal structure were determined. A reorientation of the helix occurs at an intermediate temperature between 4 K and 18 K. A difference between the population of right- and left-handed chiral domains of about 0.2 was observed in the as-grown crystal when cooling without an external electric field. The magnetic chiral ratio can be changed by the application of an external electric field of a few kV/cm, revealing strong magnetoelectric coupling. A linear dependence of the magnetic chirality on the applied electric field in NdMn2O5 was found. The results are discussed within the frame of the antisymmetric super-exchange model for Dzyaloshinsky-Moria interaction.
Polarized neutron diffraction experiments have been performed on multiferroic materials $R$Mn$_{2}$O$_{5}$ ($R=$Ho, Er) under electric fields in the ferroelectric commensurate (CM) and the low-temperature incommensurate (LT-ICM) phases, where the former has the highest electric polarization and the latter has reduced polarization. It is found that, after cooling in electric fields down to the CM phase, the magnetic chirality is proportional to the electric polarization. Also we confirmed that the magnetic chirality can be switched by the polarity of the electric polarization in both the CM and…
Surface physics dominated by bulk properties has been one of the central interests in modern condensed matter physics, from electric polarization to bulk-boundary correspondence of topological insulators and superconductors. Here, we extend theory of electric polarization to chirality polarizations, that is, surface charges corresponding to local antisymmetries characterized as a bulk property. Using the notion of chirality polarizations, we prove the recently proposed spectral bulk-boundary correspondence, a generalization of bulk-boundary correspondence in chiral symmetric systems into compl…
The chirality-dependent magnetoelectric properties of Neel-type domain walls in iron garnet films is observed. The electrically driven magnetic domain wall motion changes the direction to the opposite with the reversal of electric polarity of the probe and with the chirality switching of the domain wall from clockwise to counterclockwise. This proves that the origin of the electric field induced micromagnetic structure transformation is inhomogeneous magnetoelectric interaction.
The non-collinear spin configurations cause many nontrivial phenomena related to the Berry phase. They are described by the vector spin chirality $χ_{ij} ={\bf S}_i\times{\bf S}_j$ or scalar spin chirality $χ_{ijk}=({\bf S}_i \times {\bf S}_j) \cdot {\bf S}_k$, which are related to the spin current and effective magnetic field, respectively. The scalar spin chirality leads to the topological Hall effect in metals, while the vector spin chirality to the ferroelectricity of spin origin, i.e., multiferroics in insulators. However, the role of the vector spin chirality in conducting systems has no…
Chirality is breaking of mirror symmetry in matter. In the fields of biology and chemistry, this is particularly important because some of the essential molecules in life such as amino acids and DNA have chirality. It is a long-standing mystery how one of the enantiomers was chosen at the beginning stage of life. The understanding of the emergence of homochirality under some conditions is indispensable for the study of the origin of life as well as pharmaceutical science. The chirality is also emergent in magnetic structures. The longitudinal helical magnetic structure is the chiral object com…
We have performed an extensive study of single-crystals of the magneto-electric NdFe$_3$($^{11}$BO$_3$)$_4$ by means of a combination of single-crystal neutron diffraction and spherical neutron polarimetry. Our investigation did not detect significant deviations at low temperatures from space group R32 concerning the chemical structure. With respect to magnetic ordering our combined results demonstrate that in the commensurate magnetic phase below T$_N$~30 K all three magnetic Fe moments and the magnetic Nd moment are aligned ferromagnetically in the basal hexagonal plane but align antiferroma…
Chirality, i.e., the right- and left-handedness of structure, is one of the key concepts in many fields of science including biology, chemistry and physics, and its manipulation is an issue of vital importance. The electron spins in solids can form chiral configurations. In perovskite manganites RMnO3 (R=Tb, Dy,...etc), the Mn-spins form a cycloidal structure, which induces ferroelectric polarization (P) through the relativistic spin-orbit interaction. This magnetism-induced ferroelectricity (multiferroics) and associated infrared-active spin waves (electromagnons) open a promising route to co…
Frustration can introduce more-than-two minima in a spin dispersion relation even in a fully polarized magnet under high magnetic field. We generally discuss, on the fully polarized phase, the possibility of the chiral symmetry breaking where the number of magnons pumped by finite temperature deviates to one side of minima. We study this phase by constructing the Ginzburg-Landau energy which is controlled by the external magnetic field and interactions between magnons near the dispersion minima. This chirality breaking phase accompanies, not a magnetization perpendicular to the external field,…
Chirality is essential for various amazing phenomena in life and matter. However,chirality and its switching in electronic superlattices, such as charge density wave(CDW) arrays, remain elusive. In this study, we characterize the chirality transition with atom-resolution imaging in a single-layer NbSe2 CDW pattern by technique of scanning tunneling microscopy. The atomic lattice of the CDW array is found continuous and intact although its chirality is switched. Several intermediate states are tracked by time-resolved imaging, revealing the fast and dynamic chirality transition. Importantly, th…
Ferroelectric properties in magnetic fields of varying magnitude and direction have been investigated for a triangular-lattice helimagnet CuFe1-xGaxO2 (x=0.035). The magnetoelectric phase diagrams were deduced for magnetic fields along [001], [110], and [1-10] direction, and the in-plane magnetic field was found to induce the rearrangement of six possible multiferroic domains. Upon every 60-degree rotation of in-plane magnetic field around the c-axis, unique 120-degree flop of electric polarization occurs as a result of the switch of helical magnetic q-vector. The chirality of spin helix is al…
Structural, magnetic and multiferroic properties of single crystals of Dy$_{1-x}$Ho$_x$MnO$_3$ ($x = 0, 0.2$) were investigated by the different methods of polarized and classical neutron diffraction and macroscopic methods in order to determine the effect of Ho doping on the magneto-electric behavior of the title compounds. It is shown that substitution by Ho of 20% on the position of Dy do not change overall crystal symmetry of compound. It remains of Pnma type for both compositions down to the very low temperatures. Magnetic ordering do not change the crystal structure. Precise magnetic ord…
We present a quantum theory for one-dimensional spin-1/2 multiferroics, where the vector spin chirality couples with the electric polarization. Based on exact diagonalization and bosonization, it is shown that quantum fluctuations appreciably reduce the chiral ordering amplitude and the associated ferroelectric polarization. This yields nearly collinear spin correlations in short-range scales, in qualitative agreement with recent neutron scattering experiments. There appear gapless chirality excitations described by phasons and new solitons, which can be experimentally verified from the low-en…
The planar Hall effect (PHE), the appearance of an in-plane transverse voltage in the presence of co-planar electric ($\mathbf{E}$) and magnetic ($\mathbf{B}$) fields, occurs in regular Weyl semimetals (WSMs) as one of the fundamental manifestations of chiral anomaly. A major issue, therefore, is whether there are alternate route to PHE, without invoking chiral anomaly. We demonstrate that PHE exists in an inhomogeneous Weyl semimetal (IWSM) even in the absence of the aforesaid anomaly. Using semiclassical Boltzmann transport theory, we show that PHE appears in an IWSM due to the strain-induce…
We analyse the Ising Kondo lattice model on a pyrochlore structure in order to study the anomalous Hall effect due to non-coplanar magnetism. We focus on the frustration-induced spatial inhomogeneity of different magnetic low-temperature regimes, between which one can efficiently tune using an external magnetic field. We incorporate non-magnetic scattering on a phenomenological level so that we can distinguish between the effects of short-range correlations and short-range coherence. We obtain a Hall conductivity (σ_H) as function of field strength and direction which compares well to the expe…
Chirality or the handedness of objects is of prime importance in life science, biology, chemistry and physics. It is also a major symmetry ingredient in frustrated magnets revealing spin-spiral ground states. Vector chiral phases, with the twist (either clock- or counter clock-wise) between neighbouring spins being ordered, but with disorder with respect to the angles between adjacent spins, have been predicted almost five decades ago. Experimental proofs, however, are rare and controversial. Here, we provide experimental evidence for such a phase in LiCuVO$_4$, a one-dimensional quantum magne…
We report on a numerical study of real-time dynamics of electromagnetically interacting chirally imbalanced lattice Dirac fermions within the classical statistical field theory approach. Namely, we perform exact simulations of the real-time quantum evolution of fermionic fields coupled to classical electromagnetic fields, which are in turn coupled to the vacuum expectation value of the fermionic electric current. We use Wilson-Dirac Hamiltonian for fermions, and non-compact action for the gauge field. In general, we observe that the backreaction of fermions on the electromagnetic field prevent…
