An impressionistic rendition of helimagnetism, which can arise at low temperatures if a material’s crystal structure forces the spins of itinerant electrons to precess collectively.
Magnonics is an exciting extension of spintronics, promising novel ways of computing and storing magnetic data. What determines a material's magnetic state is how electron spins are arranged (not everyday spin, but quantized angular momentum). If most of the spins point in the same direction, the material is ferromagnetic, like a refrigerator magnet. If half the spins point one way and half the opposite, the material is antiferromagnetic, with no everyday magnetism. There are other kinds of magnetism. In materials where the electrons are "itinerant" - moving rapidly through the crystal lattice like a gas, so that their spins become strongly coupled to their motions - certain crystalline structures can cause the spins to precess collectively to the right or left in a helix, producing a state called helimagnetism. Helimagnetism most often occurs at low temperature; increasing the heat collectively excites the spin structure and eventually destroys the order, relaxing the magnetism.
TO READ THIS ARTICLE, CREATE YOUR ACCOUNT
And extend your reading, free of charge and with no commitment.
