Effect of Dzyaloshinski-Moriya interaction on spin-polarized neutron scattering

Abstract

For magnetic materials containing many lattice imperfections (e.g., nanocrystalline magnets), the relativistic Dzyaloshinski-Moriya (DM) interaction may result in nonuniform spin textures due to the lack of inversion symmetry at interfaces. Within the framework of the continuum theory of micromagnetics, we explore the impact of the DM interaction on the elastic magnetic small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) cross section of bulk ferromagnets. It is shown that the DM interaction gives rise to a polarization-dependent asymmetric term in the spin-flip SANS cross section. Analysis of this feature may provide a means to determine the DM constant.