Heisenberg Spin Glass Experiments and the Chiral Ordering Scenario

TL;DR

This paper reviews experimental data on Heisenberg Spin Glass materials, comparing them with numerical models to support the chiral ordering scenario, highlighting similarities in critical behavior and the influence of anisotropy.

Contribution

It provides a detailed comparison between experimental results and numerical simulations, supporting the chiral driven ordering transition in Heisenberg Spin Glasses.

Findings

Experimental critical exponents match numerical chiral transition estimates.

Transverse ordering transitions persist under strong magnetic fields in weak anisotropy systems.

Behavior shifts towards Ising-like with increased anisotropy.

Abstract

An overview is given of experimental data on Heisenberg Spin Glass materials so as to make detailed comparisons with numerical results on model Heisenberg spin glasses, with particular reference to the chiral driven ordering transition scenario due to Kawamura and collaborators. On weak anisotropy systems, experiments show critical exponents which are very similar to those estimated numerically for the model Heisenberg chiral ordering transition but which are quite different from those at Ising spin glass transitions. Again on weak anisotropy Heisenberg spin glasses, experimental torque data show well defined in-field transverse ordering transitions up to strong applied fields, in contrast to Ising spin glasses where fields destroy ordering. When samples with stronger anisotropies are studied, critical and in-field behavior tend progressively towards the Ising limit. It can be concluded that the essential physics of laboratory Heisenberg spin glasses mirrors that of model Heisenberg spin glasses, where chiral ordering has been demonstrated numerically.