Partial magnetic order in the itinerant-electron magnet MnSi

摘要

MnSi is an itinerant ferromagnet with a long-wavelength helical modulation of the spin structure. Macroscopic measurements suggest that the ordering temperature T_c is reduced with increasing pressure from T_c = 30 K at p = 0 to zero at the critical pressure p_c = 14.6 kbar. Resistivity measurements show that MnSi enters a non-Fermi liquid state at p_c, which remains to be understood. Neutron scattering techniques have been used to investigate the magnetic structure at and above p_c, i.e. triple-axis spectrometry and small angle neutron scattering. Surprisingly, sizeable quasi-static moments were found to survive to pressures considerably above p_c. They are, however, organized in a highly unusual way such that the magnetic Bragg reflections are sharp in the longitudinal direction but are very broad in the transverse direction, implying a partial magnetic order that was never seen before.