Helical Magnetic Order in MnSi Thin Films

Published

August 22, 2011

Author(s)

E. A. Karhu, S. Kahwaji, M. D. Robertson, H. Fritzche, Brian Kirby, Charles Majkrzak, T. L. Monchesky

Abstract

We present a study of the magnetic structure of crystalline MnSi(111) thin films by molecular beam epitaxy. A combination of polarized neutron diffraction (PNR) and SQUID magnetometry show that the films have helical magnetic order with a pitch vector Q along the film normal. The spin wave stiffness is found to drop from A= 0.67 meV nm² to 0.50 meV nm² as the thickness increases from 11 nm to 40nm. The helix wavelength of 2π/Q = 13.9 + or-}nm that is independent of thickness is explained by a concomitant drop in A and the Dzyaloshinshii constant, D. PNR shows that the magnetic structure has both left and right-handed chiralities due to the presence of inversion domains observed by transmission electron mictroscopy.

Citation

Physical Review B

Volume

84

Issue

6

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Neutron Reflectometry, magnetism

Citation

Karhu, E. , Kahwaji, S. , Robertson, M. , Fritzche, H. , Kirby, B. , Majkrzak, C. and Monchesky, T. (2011), Helical Magnetic Order in MnSi Thin Films, Physical Review B, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=908736 (Accessed October 13, 2025)