Phenomenological theory of the magnetic 90∘ helical state

Abstract

We explore a phenomenological phase diagram for the magnetic helical state with ${90}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ turn angle between neighboring spins in the external magnetic field. Such a state is formed by the Eu spin layers in the superconducting iron arsenide ${\mathrm{RbEuFe}}_{4}{\mathrm{As}}_{4}$. The peculiarity of this spin configuration is that it is not realized in the standard Heisenberg model with bilinear exchange interactions. A minimum model allowing for such a state requires the biquadratic nearest-neighbor interaction term. In addition, in tetragonal materials, the ${90}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ helix state may be stabilized by the in-plane fourfold anisotropy term, which also fixes helix orientation with respect to the crystal lattice. Such a system has a very rich behavior in the external magnetic field. The magnetic field induces the metamagnetic transition to the double-periodic state with the moment angles ($\ensuremath{\alpha}$, $\ensuremath{\alpha}$, $\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\alpha}$, $\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\alpha}$) with respect to the field for the four subsequent spins. The transition field to this state from the deformed helix is determined by the strength of biquadratic interaction. The transition is second-order for small biquadratic coupling and becomes first-order when this coupling exceeds the critical value. On the other hand, the aligned state at high magnetic field becomes unstable with respect to the formation of an incommensurate fan state, which transforms into the double-periodic state with decreasing magnetic field. The range of this incommensurate state near the saturation field is proportional to square of the biquadratic coupling. In addition, when the magnetic field is applied along one of four the equilibrium moment directions, the deformed helix state experience the first-order rotation transition at the field determined by the fourfold anisotropy.