Geometric Spin Rotation in Triangular Antiferromagnets
Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 026704 – Published 7 July, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/5m4c-5cwx
Abstract
We describe a geometric phenomenon in which a traveling wave made of degenerate Goldstone modes leaves behind a transformed ground state. In a triangular Heisenberg antiferromagnet, a pulse of circularly polarized spin waves rotates the spins within their plane. An exact solution of the nonlinear equations of motion demonstrates that the accumulated rotation is a geometric phase related to parallel transport of the order parameter. We point out a curious analogy between the motion of the magnetic order parameter and that of a wobbling coin. This phenomenon opens a new route for controlling antiferromagnetic order by spin waves and may extend to other frustrated magnets as well as other physical systems with noncommuting broken-symmetry generators.
