Band Filling Control of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction in Weakly Ferromagnetic Insulators

Guillaume Beutier (1) , S. P. Collins (2) , O. V. Dimitrova (3) , V. E. Dmitrienko (4) , M. I. Katsnelson (5) , Y. O. Kvashnin (6) , A. I. Lichtenstein (7) , V. V. Mazurenko (7) , A. G. A. Nisbet , E. N. Ovchinnikova (3) , D. Pincini (8)

1 SIMaP - Science et Ingénierie des Matériaux et Procédés
2 DIAMOND Light source
3 MSU - Lomonosov Moscow State University
4 IC RAS - A. V. Shubnikov Institute of Crystallography
5 Radboud University [Nijmegen]
6 Department of Physics and Astronomy [Uppsala]
7 UrFU - Ural Federal University [Ekaterinburg]
8 London Centre for Nanotechnology

We observe and explain theoretically a dramatic evolution of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) in the series of isostructural weak ferromagnets, MnCO 3 , FeBO 3 , CoCO 3 , and NiCO 3. The sign of the interaction is encoded in the phase of the x-ray magnetic diffraction amplitude, observed through interference with resonant quadrupole scattering. We find very good quantitative agreement with first-principles electronic structure calculations, reproducing both sign and magnitude through the series, and propose a simplified " toy model " to explain the change in sign with 3d shell filling. The model gives insight into the evolution of the DMI in Mott and charge transfer insulators.

Domaines: Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]; Electrons fortement corrélés [cond-mat.str-el]; Cristallographie; Matériaux

Guillaume Beutier, S. P. Collins, O. V. Dimitrova, V. E. Dmitrienko, M. I. Katsnelson, et al.. Band Filling Control of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction in Weakly Ferromagnetic Insulators. Physical Review Letters, 2017, 119 (16), pp.167201. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.167201⟩. ⟨hal-01622418⟩