Lock-in of a Chiral Soliton Lattice by Itinerant Electrons

Abstract

Chiral magnets often show intriguing magnetic and transport properties associated with their peculiar spin textures. A typical example is a chiral soliton lattice, which is found in monoaxial chiral magnets, such as CrNb${}_3$S${}_6$ and Yb(Ni${}_{1-x}$Cu${}_x$)${}_3$Al${}_9$ in an external magnetic field perpendicular to the chiral axis. Here, we theoretically investigate the electronic and magnetic properties in the chiral soliton lattice by a minimal itinerant electron model. Using variational calculations, we find that the period of the chiral soliton lattice can be locked at particular values dictated by the Fermi wave number, in stark contrast to spin-only models. We discuss this behavior caused by the spin-charge coupling as a possible mechanism for the lock-in discovered in Yb(Ni${}_{1-x}$Cu${}_x$)${}_3$Al${}_9$. We also show that the same mechanism leads to the spontaneous formation of the chiral soliton lattice even in the absence of the magnetic field.

4 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (6)

• Finite-Temperature Properties of Three-Dimensional Classical Chiral Helimagnets
• Chiral Soliton Lattice Formation in Monoaxial Helimagnet Yb(Ni${}_{1-x}$Cu${}_x$)${}_3$Al${}_9$
• Understanding the H-T phase diagram of the mono-axial helimagnet
• Incommensurate--commensurate transitions in the mono-axial chiral helimagnet driven by the magnetic field
• Phase transitions and ordering structures of a model of chiral helimagnet in three dimensions
• Monte Carlo study of magnetoresistance in a chiral soliton lattice

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Locking of skyrmion cores on a centrosymmetric discrete lattice: onsite versus offsite
• Metallic $p$-wave magnet with commensurate spin helix
• Thermal fluctuations in the conical state of monoaxial helimagnets
• Lattice-commensurate skyrmion texture in a centrosymmetric breathing kagome magnet
• Magnetic anisotropy of chiral magnet Yb(Ni${}_{1-x}$Cu${}_x$)${}_3$Al${}_9$ at high magnetic fields
• Spin-current diode with a monoaxial chiral magnet