Effect of Dzyaloshinski-Moriya interaction on spin-polarized neutron scattering

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the Dzyaloshinski-Moriya interaction influences spin-polarized neutron scattering in ferromagnets, revealing a polarization-dependent asymmetry that could help measure the DM constant.

Contribution

It introduces a continuum micromagnetic model to analyze the impact of DM interaction on SANS cross sections, highlighting a new polarization-dependent asymmetry feature.

Findings

DM interaction causes asymmetric spin-flip SANS cross section

Analysis can potentially determine the DM constant

Provides a new method to study spin textures in magnetic materials

Abstract

For magnetic materials containing many lattice imperfections (e.g., nanocrystalline magnets), the relativistic Dzyaloshinski-Moriya (DM) interaction may result in nonuniform spin textures due to the lack of inversion symmetry at interfaces. Within the framework of the continuum theory of micromagnetics, we explore the impact of the DM interaction on the elastic magnetic small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) cross section of bulk ferromagnets. It is shown that the DM interaction gives rise to a polarization-dependent asymmetric term in the spin-flip SANS cross section. Analysis of this feature may provide a means to determine the DM constant.