Abstract
This Letter examines the relation between the spin-wave instabilities of collinear magnetic phases and the resulting noncollinear phases for a geometrically frustrated triangular-lattice antiferromagnet in the high-spin limit. Using a combination of phenomenological and Monte Carlo techniques, we demonstrate that the instability wave vector with the strongest intensity in the collinear phase determines the wave vector of a cycloid or the dominant elastic peak of a more complex noncollinear phase. Our results are related to the observed multiferroic phase of Al-doped .
- Received 15 January 2009
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.237204
©2009 American Physical Society