Spin-wave instabilities and noncollinear magnetic phases of a geometrically frustrated triangular-lattice antiferromagnet.
This Letter examines the relation between the spin-wave instabilities of collinear magnetic phases and the resulting noncollinear phases for a geometrically frustrated triangular-lattice antiferromagnet in the high-spin limit. Using a combination of phenomenological and Monte Carlo techniques, we demonstrate that the instability wave vector with the strongest intensity in the collinear phase determines the wave vector of a cycloid or the dominant elastic peak of a more complex noncollinear phase. Our results are related to the observed multiferroic phase of Al-doped CuFeO2.
Haraldsen
J T
JT
Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
Swanson
M
M
Alvarez
G
G
Fishman
R S
RS