Long-Range Magnetism Key to Ferrimagnet Phase Shift
Researchers from Kyoto University and other institutions have identified that long-range dipolar interactions are crucial for understanding phase transitions in ferrimagnets. The study used the compound Eu2MnSi2O7 to demonstrate how these interactions override short-range exchange forces near critical points.
Why it matters
Advancing the understanding of magnetic phase transitions contributes to the development of next-generation materials and quantum technologies.
Kyoto, Japan -- Close to a phase transition, very different materials can follow the same mathematical rules. The concept of universality, which groups seemingly distinct systems based on their common properties, was developed to describe this phenomenon. In magnetic systems, ferromagnets, ferrimagnets, and antiferromagnets fall into the same universality class when short-range interactions dominate and their spatial and spin dimensionalities coincide. However, this universality has not been established when long-range interactions dominate.
In insulating magnets, long-range coupling may originate from dipole-dipole interactions. However, dipolar-driven mean-field criticality has only been firmly established in ferromagnets, leaving the ferrimagnetic and antiferromagnetic cases unexplored. A collaborative team of researchers from Kyoto University, Tohoku University, and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), set out to bridge this gap.
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