arXiv · 2105.09273
Experimental Evidence of a change of Exchange Anisotropy Sign with Temperature in Zn-Substituted Cu2OSeO3
Abstract
We report small-angle neutron scattering from the conical state in a single crystal of Zn-substituted Cu2OSeO3. Using a 3D vector-field magnet to reorient the conical wavevector, our measurements show that the magnitude of the conical wavevector changes as a function of crystallographic direction. These changes are caused by the anisotropic exchange interaction (AEI), whose magnitude transitions from a maxima to a minima along the <111> and <100> crystallographic directions respectively. We further find that the AEI constant undergoes a change of sign from positive to negative with decreasing temperature. Unlike in the related compound FeGe, where similar behaviour of the AEI induces a reorientation of the helical wavevector, we show that the zero field helical wavevector in (Cu0.98Zn0.02)2OSeO3 remains along the <100> directions at all temperatures due to the competing fourth-order magnetocrystalline anisotropy becoming dominant at lower temperatures.
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S. H. Moody, P. Nielsen, M. N. Wilson, D. Alba Venero, A. Štefančič, G. Balakrishnan, P. D. Hatton. 2021-05-19. Experimental Evidence of a change of Exchange Anisotropy Sign with Temperature in Zn-Substituted Cu2OSeO3. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevresearch.3.043149
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