Dresden 2014 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help

TT: Fachverband Tiefe Temperaturen

TT 69: Correlated Electrons: Spin Systems and Itinerant Magnets - Chiral Magnets

TT 69.2: Talk

Wednesday, April 2, 2014, 15:15–15:30, HSZ 204

Small Angle Neutron Scattering of the Skyrmion Lattice Decay in Chiral Magnets — •Jonas Kindervater¹, Alfonso Chacon¹, Andreas Bauer¹, Sebastian Mühlbauer², and Christian Pfleiderer¹ — ¹Physik-Department E21, Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany — ²Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ), Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany

Skyrmion lattices in chiral magnets differ from conventional magnetic order in terms of their non-trivial topology. In turn the phase transition between conventional magnetic order and the skyrmion lattice phase is always first order. An open question concerns thereby the specific microscopic mechanisms by which this first order phase transition takes place, i.e., by which the non-trivial topology unwinds. Using small angle neutron scattering we report detailed measurements of the time-dependence of the skyrmion lattice decay in Fe_1−xCo_xSi after quenching the skyrmion lattice phase into a metastable state. As our main result we find pronounced differences for the decay into the helical and the conical phase as a function of temperature and magnetic field. We discuss our results in the context of recent magnetic force magnetometry of the skyrmion lattice to helical transition in the same material under similar conditions [1].