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Abstract:

The hexaferrites are known to exhibit a wide range of magnetic structures, some of which are connected to important technological applications and display magnetoelectric properties. We present data on the low field magnetic structures stabilised in a Y-type hexaferrite as observed by resonant soft X-ray diffraction. The helical spin block arrangement that is present in zero applied magnetic field becomes fan-like as a field is applied in plane. The propagation vectors associated with each fan structure are studied as a function of field, and a new magnetic phase is reported. Mean field calculations indicate this phase should stabilise close to the boundary of the previously reported phases.

Abstract:

Structural and magnetic chiralities are found to coexist in a small group of materials in which they produce intriguing phenomenologies such as the recently discovered skyrmion phases. Here, we describe a previously unknown manifestation of this interplay in MnSb2O6, a trigonal oxide with a chiral crystal structure. Unlike all other known cases, the MnSb2O6 magnetic structure is based on co-rotating cycloids rather than helices. The coupling to the structural chirality is provided by a magnetic axial vector, related to the so-called vector chirality. We show that this unique arrangement is the magnetic ground state of the symmetric-exchange Hamiltonian, based on ab-initio theoretical calculations of the Heisenberg exchange interactions, and is stabilised by out-of-plane anisotropy. MnSb2O6 is predicted to be multiferroic with a unique ferroelectric switching mechanism.