Hedgehog lattice and field-induced chirality in breathing-pyrochlore Heisenberg antiferromagnets

Kazushi Aoyama and Hikaru Kawamura
Phys. Rev. B 106, 064412 – Published 9 August 2022

Abstract

We theoretically investigate a J1J3 classical Heisenberg model on the breathing pyrochlore lattice, where the nearest-neighbor (NN) exchange interactions for small and large tetrahedra, J1 and J1, take different values due to the breathing bond alternation and J3 is the third NN antiferromagnetic interaction along the bond direction. It is found by means of Monte Carlo simulations that for large J3, a hedgehog lattice, a three-dimensional periodic array of magnetic monopoles and antimonopoles, emerges in the form of a quadruple-Q state characterized by the ordering vector of Q=(±12,±12,±12), being irrespective of the signs of J1 and/or J1 as long as J1J1. It is also found that in an applied magnetic field, there appear six quadruple-Q states depending on the values of J1 and J1, among which three phases including the in-field hedgehog-lattice state exhibit nonzero total chirality χT associated with the anomalous Hall effect of chirality origin. In the remaining two chiral phases, which are realized in the presence of ferromagnetic J1 and/or J1, the spin structure is not topologically nontrivial, in spite of the fact that χT0. The role of the topological objects of the monopoles in χT is also discussed.

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  • Received 2 June 2022
  • Accepted 1 August 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.106.064412

©2022 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Kazushi Aoyama1 and Hikaru Kawamura2

  • 1Department of Earth and Space Science, Graduate School of Science, Osaka University, Osaka 560-0043, Japan
  • 2Molecular Photoscience Research Center, Kobe University, Kobe 657-8501, Japan

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Issue

Vol. 106, Iss. 6 — 1 August 2022

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