Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and the magnetic ground state in magnetoelectric LiCoPO 4
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Ames National Laboratory is a government-owned, contractor-operated national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), operated by and located on the campus of Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.
For more than 70 years, the Ames National Laboratory has successfully partnered with Iowa State University, and is unique among the 17 DOE laboratories in that it is physically located on the campus of a major research university. Many of the scientists and administrators at the Laboratory also hold faculty positions at the University and the Laboratory has access to both undergraduate and graduate student talent.
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Abstract
Magnetic structures are investigated by means of neutron diffraction to shine a light on the intricate details that are believed to be key to understanding the magnetoelectric effect in LiCoPO4. At zero field, a spontaneous spin canting of φ=7(1)∘ is found. The spins tilt away from the easy b-axis toward c. Symmetry considerations lead to the magnetic point group m′z, which is consistent with the previously observed magnetoelectric tensor form and weak ferromagnetic moment along b. For magnetic fields applied along a, the induced ferromagnetic moment couples via the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction to yield an additional field-induced spin canting. An upper limit to the size of the interaction is estimated from the canting angle.