Persistent Spin Currents in Helimagnets

TL;DR

This paper shows that weak magnetic fields can induce dissipationless spin currents in helimagnets, with potential applications in spintronics, based on phenomenological and microscopic theoretical analyses.

Contribution

It introduces the concept that external magnetic fields can generate dissipationless spin currents in systems with spiral magnetic order, supported by phenomenological and mean-field theory.

Findings

Weak magnetic fields induce spin currents in helimagnets.

Spin currents are dissipationless and occur in the ground state.

Potential applications in spintronic devices are discussed.

Abstract

We demonstrate that weak external magnetic fields generate dissipationless spin currents in the ground state of systems with spiral magnetic order. Our conclusions are based on phenomenological considerations and on microscopic mean-field theory calculations for an illustrative toy model. We speculate on possible applications of this effect in spintronic devices.