Parity Broken Chiral Spin Dynamics in Ba$_3$NbFe$_3$Si$_2$O$_{14}

The spin wave excitations emerging from the chiral helically modulated 120$^{\circ}$ magnetic order in a langasite Ba$_3$NbFe$_3$Si$_2$O$_{14}$ enantiopure crystal were investigated by unpolarized and polarized inelastic neutron scattering. A dynamical fingerprint of the chiral ground state is obtai...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2011, Vol.106 (20)
Main Authors: Loire, Mickael, Simonet, Virginie, Petit, Sylvain, Marty, Karol, Bordet, Pierre, Lejay, Pascal, Ollivier, Jacques, Enderle, Mechthild, Steffens, Paul, Ressouche, Eric, Zorko, Andrej, Ballou, Rafik
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Condensed Matter
Physics
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The spin wave excitations emerging from the chiral helically modulated 120$^{\circ}$ magnetic order in a langasite Ba$_3$NbFe$_3$Si$_2$O$_{14}$ enantiopure crystal were investigated by unpolarized and polarized inelastic neutron scattering. A dynamical fingerprint of the chiral ground state is obtained, singularized by (i) spectral weight asymmetries answerable to the structural chirality and (ii) a full chirality of the spin correlations observed over the whole energy spectrum. The intrinsic chiral nature of the spin waves elementary excitations is shown in absence of macroscopic time reversal symmetry breaking.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.207201