Field-Induced Commensurate-Incommensurate Phase Transition in a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Spiral Antiferromagnet

Journal Article · Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1997 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.78.4857· OSTI ID:531872

Zheludev, A; Maslov, S; Shirane, G ^[1]; Sasago, Y; Koide, N; Uchinokura, K ^[2]

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1. Department of Physics, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973 (United States)
2. Department of Applied Physics, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113 (Japan)

We report an observation of a commensurate-incommensurate phase transition in a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya spiral magnet Ba{sub 2}CuGe {sub 2}O{sub 7} . The transition is induced by applying a magnetic field in the plane of spin rotation. In this experiment we have direct control over the strength of the commensurate potential, while the preferred incommensurate period of the spin system remains unchanged. Experimental results for the period of the soliton lattice and bulk magnetization as a function of external magnetic field are in quantitative agreement with theory. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH00016
• OSTI ID: 531872
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 78, Issue 25; Other Information: PBD: Jun 1997
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
66 PHYSICS
BARIUM OXIDES
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
COPPER OXIDES
GERMANIUM OXIDES
ANTIFERROELECTRIC MATERIALS
MAGNETIZATION
MAGNETIC SUSCEPTIBILITY
NEUTRON DIFFRACTION