When magnetism meets topology

magnetic structure

Sm2Ir2O7 - Potential magnetic structures Γ5 proposed by theoretical calculations (from publication © 2016 American Physical Society 2016).

Magnetic structure

Sm2Ir2O7 - Potential magnetic structures Γ3 proposed by theoretical calculations (from publication © 2016 American Physical Society 2016).

By using resonant magnetic X-ray scattering a team of researchers from the London Centre for Nanotechnology, the University of Oxford, DESY and collaborators, has investigated the unresolved nature of the magnetic ground state and the low-energy effective Hamiltonian of Sm2Ir2O7. This is a prototypical pyrochlore iridate with a finite temperature metal-insulator transition.The experiments were performed at the ESRF (Grenoble, France) and PETRA III at DESY.

Further details are described in the research highlight of the London Centre for Nanotechnology:  "When magnetism meets topology".

Reference: C. Donnerer et al., All-in-all-Out Magnetic Order and Propagating Spin-Waves in Sm2Ir2O7, Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 037201 (2016). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.037201