• Stock, C.; Johnson, R. D.; Giles-Donovan, N.; Songvilay, M.; Rodriguez-Rivera, J. A.; Lee, N.; Xu, X.; Radaelli, P. G.; Chapon, L. C.; Bombardi, A.; Cochran, S.; Niedermayer, Ch.; Schneidewind, A.; Husges, Zita; Lu, Zhilun; Meng, S.; Cheong, S.-W.: Spin-wave directional anisotropies in antiferromagnetic Ba3NbFe3Si2O14. Physical Review B 100 (2019), p. 134429/1-6

10.1103/PhysRevB.100.134429
Open Access Version (externer Anbieter)

Abstract:
Ba3NbFe3Si2O14 (langasite) is structurally and magnetically single-domain chiral with the magnetic helicity induced through competing symmetric exchange interactions. Using neutron scattering, we show that the spin waves in antiferromagnetic langasite display directional anisotropy. On applying a time-reversal symmetry breaking magnetic field along the c axis, the spin-wave energies differ when the sign is reversed for either the momentum transfer ±Q⃗ or applied magnetic field ±μ0H. When the field is applied within the crystallographic ab plane, the spin-wave dispersion is directionally isotropic and symmetric in ±μ0H. However, a directional anisotropy is observed in the spin-wave intensity. We discuss this directional anisotropy in the dispersion in langasite in terms of a field-induced precession of the dynamic unit cell staggered magnetization resulting from a broken twofold symmetry. Directional anisotropy, often referred to as nonreciprocal responses, can occur in antiferromagnetic phases in the absence of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction or other effects resulting from spin-orbit coupling.