No Arabic abstract
Ultrafast non-thermal manipulation of magnetization by light relies on either indirect coupling of the electric field component of the light with spins via spin-orbit interaction or direct coupling between the magnetic field component and spins. Here we propose a novel scenario for coupling between the electric field of light and spins via optical modification of the exchange interaction, one of the strongest quantum effects, the strength of which can reach 1000 Tesla. We demonstrate that this isotropic opto-magnetic effect, which can be called the inverse magneto-refraction, is allowed in a material of any symmetry. Its existence is corroborated by the experimental observation of THz emission by magnetic-dipole active spin resonances optically excited in a broad class of iron oxides with a canted spin configuration. From its strength we estimate that a sub-picosecond laser pulse with a moderate fluence of ~ 1 mJ/cm^2 acts as a pulsed effective magnetic field of 0.01 Tesla, arising from the optically perturbed balance between the exchange parameters. Our findings are supported by a low-energy theory for the microscopic magnetic interactions between non-equilibrium electrons subjected to an optical field which suggests a possibility to modify the exchange interactions by light over 1 %.
We investigate the spin-stripe mechanism responsible for the peculiar nanometer modulation of the incommensurate magnetic order that emerges between the vector-chiral and the spin-density-wave phase in the frustrated zigzag spin-1/2 chain compound $beta$-TeVO$_4$. A combination of magnetic-torque, neutron-diffraction and spherical-neutron-polarimetry measurements is employed to determine the complex magnetic structures of all three ordered phases. Based on these results, we develop a simple phenomenological model, which exposes the exchange anisotropy as the key ingredient for the spin-stripe formation in frustrated spin systems.
Half-metallicity (full spin polarization of the Fermi surface) usually occurs in strongly correlated electron systems. We demonstrate that doping a spin-density wave insulator in the weak-coupling regime may also stabilize half-metallic states. The undoped spin-density wave is formed by four nested bands [i.e., each band is characterized by charge (electron/hole) and spin (up/down) labels]. Of these four bands only two accumulate the doped carriers, forming a half-metallic two-valley Fermi surface. Depending on parameters, the spin polarizations of the electron-like and hole-like valleys may be (i) parallel or (ii) antiparallel. The Fermi surface of (i) is fully spin-polarized (similar to usual half-metals). Case (ii), referred to as a spin-valley half-metal, corresponds to complete polarization with respect to the spin-valley operator. The properties of these states are discussed.
In the exchange approximation, an exact solution is obtained for the sublattice magnetizations evolution in a two-sublattice ferrimagnet. Nonlinear regimes of spin dynamics are found that include both the longitudinal and precessional evolution of the sublattice magnetizations, with the account taken of the exchange relaxation. In particular, those regimes describe the spin switching observed in the GdFeCo alloy under the influence of a femtosecond laser pulse.
Magnetism of transition metal (TM) oxides is usually described in terms of the Heisenberg model, with orientation-independent interactions between the spins. However, the applicability of such a model is not fully justified for TM oxides because spin polarization of oxygen is usually ignored. In the conventional model based on the Anderson principle, oxygen effects are considered as a property of the TM ion and only TM interactions are relevant. Here, we perform a systematic comparison between two approaches for spin polarization on oxygen in typical TM oxides. To this end, we calculate the exchange interactions in NiO, MnO, and hematite (Fe2O3) for different magnetic configurations using the magnetic force theorem. We consider the full spin Hamiltonian including oxygen sites, and also derive an effective model where the spin polarization on oxygen renormalizes the exchange interactions between TM sites. Surprisingly, the exchange interactions in NiO depend on the magnetic state if spin polarization on oxygen is neglected, resulting in non-Heisenberg behavior. In contrast, the inclusion of spin polarization in NiO makes the Heisenberg model more applicable. Just the opposite, MnO behaves as a Heisenberg magnet when oxygen spin polarization is neglected, but shows strong non-Heisenberg effects when spin polarization on oxygen is included. In hematite, both models result in non-Heisenberg behavior. General applicability of the magnetic force theorem as well as the Heisenberg model to TM oxides is discussed.
Control of quantum coherence in many-body system is one of the key issues in modern condensed matter. Conventional wisdom is that lattice vibration is an innate source of decoherence, and amounts of research have been conducted to eliminate lattice effects. Challenging this wisdom, here we show that lattice vibration may not be a decoherence source but an impetus of a novel coherent quantum many-body state. We demonstrate the possibility by studying the transverse-field Ising model on a chain with renormalization group and density-matrix renormalization group method, and theoretically discover a stable $mathcal{N}=1$ supersymmetric quantum criticality with central charge $c=3/2$. Thus, we propose an Ising spin chain with strong spin-lattice coupling as a candidate to observe supersymmetry. Generic precursor conditions of novel quantum criticality are obtained by generalizing the Larkin-Pikin criterion of thermal transitions. Our work provides a new perspective that lattice vibration may be a knob for exotic quantum many-body states.