Stable and locally stable conditions for a conical spin state in the spinel structure

Department of Physics, Southeast University - Nanjing 211189, China

Received: 21 November 2012
Accepted: 10 June 2013

Abstract

A conical spin state generates the multiferroicity with both spontaneous magnetization and ferroelectric polarization, offering a great promise for the mutual control of magnetism and ferroelectricity. To clarify the stable and locally stable conditions for the conical spin order, a Monte Carlo simulation is performed on a three-dimensional spinel lattice with classical Heisenberg spins to explore the possible ground states in different parameter spaces. The simulation confirms the locally stable range of the conical spin state, which was suggested by the LKDM (Lyons, Kaplan, Dwight, and Menyuk) theory. Furthermore, it is revealed that the anisotropy plays an important role in stabilizing the conical spin order and expanding the parameter range of its existence, whereas the nearest-neighboring antiferromagnetic A-A exchange interaction enhances frustration and thereby suppresses the conical spin order. Thus, our simulation gives a necessary supplement and a reasonable improvement to the LKDM theory.