Spin reorientation in the square-lattice antiferromagnets RMnAsO (R = Ce, Nd): Density functional analysis of the spin exchange interactions between the rare-earth and transition-metal ions

TL;DR

This study uses density functional theory to analyze how the interplay of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya and biquadratic interactions influences spin reorientation in square-lattice antiferromagnets RMnAsO, revealing the role of 4f electron states.

Contribution

It provides a detailed theoretical analysis of the exchange interactions causing spin reorientation, highlighting the dominant role of DM and BQ interactions influenced by 4f states.

Findings

DM interaction symmetry and strength depend on 4f states of R3+ ions.

Strong R3+-Mn2+ exchange interactions control spin reorientation.

Different spin configurations in CeMnAsO and NdMnAsO explained by interaction dominance.

Abstract

The spin reorientation (SR) phenomenon of the square-lattice antiferromagnets RMnAsO (R = Ce, Nd) was investigated by analyzing the spin exchange interactions between the rare-earth and transition-metal ions (R3+ and Mn2+, respectively) on the basis of density functional calculations. It is found that the symmetry and strength of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction are determined primarily by the partially filled 4f states of the R3+ ions, and that the DM and biquadratic (BQ) exchanges between the R3+ and Mn2+ ions are unusually strong and control the observed spin reorientation phenomenon. Below their SR temperature, the Mn2+ and Ce3+ moments are orthogonal in CeMnAsO but are collinear in NdMnAsO, because the DM interaction dominates over the BQ interaction for CeMnAsO while the opposite is the case for NdMnAsO. Experiments designed to test the implications of our findings are proposed.