Canting of spins and magnetic polarons in a model with antiferromagnetically correlated ions
Phys. Rev. B 112, 014425 – Published 14 July, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/dkyt-11tn
Abstract
We consider a simple cubic lattice with a ion at each corner and spins aligned parallel or antiparallel to the axis, depending on the long-range order phase of the ground state. Elementary excited states consist of transitions to at one site which give rise to the conduction electron band structure. To prevent double occupation of the states we introduce auxiliary bosons and fermions in mean-field approximation. For small electron density we calculate the ground-state energies for the A, B, C, and G phases as a function of the nearest-neighbor hopping matrix element and the antiferromagnetic superexchange between neighboring spins . With increasing superexchange there are crossovers from phase A to C and for large to G, while the B phase is only the ground state for ferromagnetic exchange. We study the canting of the spins which may lower the energy for the A and C phases. Following a procedure by M. Yu. Kagan et al. [J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 8, 10905 (2006)]. we investigate the formation of magnetic polarons as a function of anisotropy, magnetic field, and temperature, as well as the magnetostriction. This simplified model was inspired on the recently discovered Zintl compound .