The influence of antiferromagnetic spin cantings on the magnetic helix pitch in cubic helimagnets

Abstract In cubic helimagnets MnSi and Cu 2 OSeO 3 with their nearly isotropic magnetic properties, the magnetic structure undergoes helical deformation, which is almost completely determined by the helicoid wavenumber k = D / J, where magnetization field stiffness J is associated with isotropic spin exchange, and D is a pseudoscalar value characterizing the antisymmetric Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction. Another magnetic feature of these crystals, also caused by the DM interactions, are antiferromagnetic spin cantings, similar to the ferromagnetic cantings responsible for the phenomenon of weak ferromagnetism. Here we show that cantings can strongly influence the helical order through the value of the parameter D. Changing the cantings in a strong magnetic field is predicted to affect the magnon spectrum of the crystals.