A Spiral Spin State with Open Boundary Conditions in a Magnetic Field

Abstract

In order to model a spiral spin state in a thin film, we study a classical Heisenberg model with open boundary conditions. With magnetic field applied in the plane of the film, the spin state becomes ferromagnetic above a critical field that increases with thickness $N$. For a given $N$, the spiral passes through states with $n=n_0$ up to 0 complete periods in steps of 1. These numerical results agree with earlier analytic results in the continuum limit and help explain the susceptibility jumps observed in thin films.

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• Surface twist instabilities and skyrmion states in chiral ferromagnets
• Manipulation of the spin helix in FeGe thin films and FeGe/Fe multilayers
• Spin Structure of the Anisotropic Helimagnet Cr${}_{1/3}$NbS${}_2$ in a Magnetic Field