Understanding unconventional magnetic order in a candidate axion insulator by resonant elastic x-ray scattering.
Understanding unconventional magnetic order in a candidate axion insulator by resonant elastic x-ray scattering.
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DOI：
10.1038/s41467-023-39138-5
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发表时间：
2023-06-09
影响因子：
16.6
通讯作者：
Boothroyd, Andrew T.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Soh, Jian-Rui;Bombardi, Alessandro;Mila, Frederic;Rahn, Marein C.;Prabhakaran, Dharmalingam;Francoual, Sonia;Ronnow, Henrik M.;Boothroyd, Andrew T.
磁拓扑绝缘体和半金属是一类结晶固体，其性质受到非平凡电子拓扑和磁自旋构型之间耦合的强烈影响。这种材料可以承受奇异的电磁响应。其中包括具有某些类型反铁磁序的拓扑绝缘体，预计可以实现轴子电动力学。在这里，我们研究了最近在 EuIn2As2 中报道的非常不寻常的螺旋磁相，它已被确定为轴子绝缘体的候选者。使用共振弹性X射线散射，我们表明在EuIn2As2中观察到的两种类型的磁序是具有相应手性磁结构的空间均匀相，排除了可能的相分离情况，并且我们提出与低能自旋涨落相关的熵在驱动它们之间的相变中发挥着重要作用。我们的结果表明，EuIn2As2 中的磁序满足轴子绝缘体的对称性要求。 EuIn2As2 是轴子绝缘体的候选材料，它是一种可以承载类轴子准粒子的材料，与粒子物理学中提出的轴子直接类比，用于解决所谓的“强CP问题”。 Soh 等人对 EuIn2As2 进行共振弹性 X 射线散射，结果表明磁序由相应的手性磁结构组成，满足 EuIn2As2 作为轴子绝缘体的对称性要求。
Magnetic topological insulators and semimetals are a class of crystalline solids whose properties are strongly influenced by the coupling between non-trivial electronic topology and magnetic spin configurations. Such materials can host exotic electromagnetic responses. Among these are topological insulators with certain types of antiferromagnetic order which are predicted to realize axion electrodynamics. Here we investigate the highly unusual helimagnetic phases recently reported in EuIn2As2, which has been identified as a candidate for an axion insulator. Using resonant elastic x-ray scattering we show that the two types of magnetic order observed in EuIn2As2 are spatially uniform phases with commensurate chiral magnetic structures, ruling out a possible phase-separation scenario, and we propose that entropy associated with low energy spin fluctuations plays a significant role in driving the phase transition between them. Our results establish that the magnetic order in EuIn2As2 satisfies the symmetry requirements for an axion insulator. EuIn2As2 is a candidate as an axion insulator, a material that can host axion-like quasi-particles, in direct analogy with the axion proposed in particle physics to resolve the so called “strong CP problem”. Here Soh et al., perform resonant elastic X-Ray scattering on EuIn2As2 and show that the magnetic order consists of commensurate chiral magnetic structures, satisfying the symmetry requirements for EuIn2As2 to be an axion insulator.’
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DOI：
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发表时间：
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影响因子：
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作者：
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DOI：
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发表时间：
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期刊：
ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION A
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
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影响因子：
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