Tensile deformations of the magnetic chiral soliton lattice probed by Lorentz transmission electron microscopy

Abstract

We consider the case of a chiral soliton lattice subjected to uniaxial elastic strain applied perpendicular to the chiral axis and derive through analytical modelling the phase diagram of magnetic states supported in the presence of an external magnetic field. The strain induced anisotropies give rise to three distinct non-trivial spin textures, depending on the nature of the strain, and we show how these states may be identified by their signatures in Lorentz transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Experimental TEM measurements of the Fresnel contrast in a strained sample of the prototypical monoaxial chrial helimagnet CrNb${}_3$S${}_6$ are reported and compare well with the modelled contrast. Our results demonstrate an additional degree of freedom that may be used to tailor the magnetic properties of helimagnets for fundamental research and applications in the areas of spintronics and the emerging field of strain manipulated spintronics.

13 pages, 6 figures. Minor style and reference edits

References in corpus (3)

• Strain and Magnetic Field Induced Spin-Structure Transitions in Multiferroic BiFeO3
• Order and Disorder in the Magnetisation of the Chiral Crystal CrNb${}_3$S${}_6$
• Nonlinear emergent elasticity and structural transitions of skyrmion crystal under uniaxial distortion

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Chirality-induced Phonon Dispersion in a Noncentrosymmetric Micropolar Crystal
• Giant topological and planar Hall effect in Cr${}_{1/3}$NbS${}_2$
• Consequences and control of multi-scale (dis)order in chiral magnetic textures
• Exact Ground States and Domain Walls in One Dimensional Chiral Magnets
• Topological Defect Mediated Helical Phase Reorientation by Uniaxial Stress
• Controlling Skyrmion Lattices via Strain: Elongation, Tilting, and Collapse Mechanisms