title: Magnetic blue phase in the chiral itinerant magnet MnSi.
abstract: Chiral nematic liquid crystals sometimes form blue phases characterized by spirals twisting in different directions. By combining model calculations with neutron-scattering experiments, we show that the magnetic analogue of blue phases does form in the chiral itinerant magnet MnSi in a large part of the phase diagram. The properties of this blue phase explain a number of previously reported puzzling features of MnSi such as partial magnetic order and a two-component specific-heat and thermal-expansion anomaly at the magnetic transition.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Solid State Physics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, D-76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hamann
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lamago
authors.forename: Th
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: von Löhneysen
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Reznik