Magnetic Excitations

A conceptual overview in localized and

itinerant paradigms

Alberto Beccari
24/09/2015

Spin waves in the Heisenberg ferromagnet

Building a candidate first excited state: flipping a spin at lattice site starting from the fully
oriented ground state.
1
= () 0
2

Not a proper eigenstate: the x/y spin components in the Hamiltonian can be expressed in
1
() ()
terms of raising and lowering operators as

+

2

involves a sum over other states with a single flipped spin.

Lattice periodicity suggests a state akin to Bloch wavefunctions

=

lowering is distributed equally along the chain.

Schrdinger equation yields a dispersion relation. Subtracting the ground state energy:

= 2
()2 (
)
2

Evaluation of the expectation value of the spin correlation function:

2
S () S () =
cos( ( ))

Einstein-Bose statistics can be used to evaluate the mean occupation number as a function of
temperature (the state differs from 0 by integer = 1). Each excited magnon reduces the
magnetization from its saturation value by 1.

Low temperature limit:

() ( )2 . By summing the spin contribution over a 3d grid of

allowed wavevectors with EB average we get

0 ()
(0)

3
2

, which better fits the experiments than

the exponential decay in molecular field theory.

Ratio of the magnetization to its saturation

3

value as function of ( )2 in ferromagnetic

Ge and metallic compounds. The law

holds well up to 0.6Tc. From [6]

 The energy density of the magnon spectrum at low temperature is

that the specific heat of the ferromagnet should follow =

3
2

0
1

5
2

, so

In lesser-dimensional systems the density of states () is less regular; the number of

excited magnons and the internal energy diverge: excitations compromise the ground state
stability.

Consistency with Mermin-Wagner theorem: no continuous symmetry can be

spontaneously broken at 0 in systems with short-range interactons, if 2; long
wavelengths excitations are not split by any energy gap from the ground state.

In 2D, any kind of anisotropy (shape, dipolar, spin-orbit) can invalidate the theorem and
restore ferromagetism.

Formalism of second quantization: exchange interaction

Definition of fermionic creation and annihilation operators: =

complete basis or often a set of eigenfunctions.

Fourier expansion of the e-e repulsion Hamiltonian:

We choose plane waves

, where ()s are a

4 2 ( )
2

, approximate eigenfunctions in a generic conduction band, to

define creation and annihilation operators.

Evaluating the first-order correction from the set of two-bodies Coulomb interactions on the ground
state of the electron gas, we get an expression for the exchange term:

1
=

2 2
12

1 2

2 1 2

as in the diagonal term all contributions vanish except those with 2 1 = , 1 = 2 =

Stoner Model

The molecular field Stoner theory starts with the approximate Hamiltonian

One-body band spectrum,

diagonal in the base of its
eigenfunctions

12

Intra-atomic Coulomb
integral

+,

2 , 1 ,
,
2
2nd quantized expression
of 2-bodies interactions

Where the = 0 mean value is screened by the distributed lattice positive charge and the remaining
dependence is omitted in favour of the constant Coulomb integral.

Excited states are built from the ground, ferromagnetic state by promoting a majority-spin electron to

the minority spin-split band: in the language of second quantization = +, ,

and = (suitable linear combination of states with a single promoted electron to throw in
the Schrdinger equation)

Stoner Excitations

= ( + )

The Schrdinger equation must be developed by use of the canonical fermionic

(anti)commutation relations: , = , , = 0, , = 0 (implying Paulis
principle!)

e.g., , =

++

)
1 1

An extension to the Hartree-Fock approximation, called Random Phase Approximation,

allows us to keep only diagonal elements (1 = + ) when evaluating the effect of the
operator on the tentative wavefunction; the other terms average out, being the phase rapidly
spatially-varying.
The secular equation can now be expressed in terms of simple number operators in the
separate spin-bands.

 With the definition of a degree of spin polarization =

Introduction of a Zeeman energy term for the interaction with an external field,

A further correction that is necessary because the wavefunction doesnt vanish anymore
with the application of the destruction operator (in fact the chosen is the ground state
of the Hartree-Fock hamiltonian, not of the Stoner approximant),
The eigenvalue equation can finally be derived:

(1 + )

+ + 2 +

The numerator doesnt vanish if the spin-flip happens from an occupied to an empty state.
In the limit , the dispersion relation is = + +

The energy depends on , so that Stoner excitations form a continuum with loose
boundaries.
is the offset between the spin-split bands.

Domain of the allowed spin-flip

transitions for fixed , represented by
the shaded, non-overlapping region of
majority and minority Fermi spheres.

2 2
+
( 2 )
2
Incomplete overlap of the
Fermi spheres;
gapless excitation branch

In the low temperature limit,

these states reduce the
spontaneous magnetization
by

0 ()
(0)

Spin-Wave Branch
The previous slide took for granted a collective excitation analogous to the excited states of the
Heisenberg ferromagnetic chain, that dips into the Stoner continuum at . In fact, such states exist
even in the itinerant model.
The long-wavelength dispersion relation can be obtained from the secular equation by Taylor expansion,

as long as 2 0 =

2 2

2 +
(1 1.3
)
2

which is parabolic as in the Heisenberg model.

Excitations with energy greater than are
strongly damped by interaction with the electronsholes continuum and decay after short lifetimes.

Spin-waves excited in an
inelastic neutron scattering
experiment on hcp Co and
measured with a TOF
spectrometer.

Inelastic neutron scattering

2 1
2 1 = (
+ )

Conservation of energy, conservation of

crystal momentum (discrete symmetry) :
Measurement of dispersion relation
Triple-axis spectrometer is needed to
perform a scan in fixed- or fixed- mode
(through angular degrees of freedom)

Moving parts are mounted over compressed-air

pads to ease constraint and low-friction
displacement

Monochromators

Ewalds sphere
= 2 sin

Some focusing can be

provided by curved cuts

Different crystals are chosen for

different wavelengths to
improve the neutron flux

Polarization of neutron beams

Necessity to distinguish magnon
scattering from nonmagnetic, lowenergy excitations
(Stern-Gerlach splitting would require huge
magnetic fields due to low ( + 1) )

Polarizing crystals (2 )

Nuclear and magnetic structure factors for

Bragg scattering can compensate for a
given diffraction peak and spin
polarization

Polarizing mirrors

Magnetic particle optics, total external

reflection for one spin state happens
between two critical angles

Supermirror bender array

Polarizing filters ( 3)

Spin-dependant nuclear cross section

for absorption, close to resonance
= 0

Anisotropic dispersion of spin waves in the

antiferromagnet 2 , measured with TOF
spectrometer. Note the linear fit valid at low
wavelength.
From [7]
Detection of Bragg peaks
with fixed- scan

Recap

REFERENCES

1. Ashcroft, Neil W., and N. David Mermin. Solid State Physics.

2014. Print.
2. Blundell, Stephen. Magnetism in Condensed Matter. Oxford
UP, 2003. Print.

3. Yosida, Kei. Theory of Magnetism. Heidelberg: SpringerVerlag, 1996. Print.

4. Crangle, John. Solid State Magnetism. New York: Van
Nostrand Reinhold, 1991. Print.

5. Stewart, Ross. Polarized Neutrons. Rep. Science &

Technology Facilities Council, n.d. Web.
6. Holtzberg, F., T. R. McGuire, S. Methfessel, and J. C. Suits.
"Ferromagnetism in Rare-Earth Group VA and VIA Compounds
with Th3P4 Structure." Journal of Applied Physics 35.3 (1964):
1033-038. Web.
7. Low, G. G., and A. Okazaki. "A Measurement of Spin-Wave
Dispersion in MnF2 at 4.2K." Journal of Applied Physics 35.3
(1964): 998-99. Web.