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Experiments on the magnetorotational instability in helical magnetic fields
The magnetorotational instability (MRI) plays a key role in the formation of stars and black holes, by enabling outward angular momentum transport in accretion discs. The use of combined axial and azimuthal magnetic fields allows the investigation of this effect in liquid metal flows at moderate Reynolds and Hartmann numbers. A variety of experimental results is presented showing evidence for the occurrence of the MRI in a Taylor-Couette flow using the liquid metal alloy GaInSn. © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.
Absence of induced magnetic monopoles in Maxwellian magnetoelectrics
The electromagnetic response of topological insulators is governed by axion electrodynamics, which features a topological magnetoelectric term in the Maxwell equations. As a consequence magnetic fields become the source of electric fields and vice versa, a phenomenon that is general for any material exhibiting a linear magnetoelectric effect. Axion electrodynamics has been associated with the possibility to create magnetic monopoles, in particular, by an electrical charge that is screened above the surface of a magnetoelectric material. Here we explicitly solve for the electromagnetic fields in this geometry and show that while vortexlike magnetic screening fields are generated by the electrical charge their divergence is identically zero at every point in space, which implies an absence of induced magnetic monopoles. Nevertheless magnetic image charges can be made explicit in the problem, and even if no bound state with electric charges yielding a dyon arises, a dyonlike angular momentum follows from our analysis. Because of its dependence on the dielectric constant this angular momentum is not quantized, which is consistent with a general argument that precludes magnetic monopoles to be generated in Maxwell magnetoelectrics. We also solve for topologically protected zero modes in the Dirac equation induced by the point charge. Since the induced topological defect on the topological insulator's surface carries an electric charge as a result of the axion term, these zero modes are not self-conjugated.
Dissecting spin-phonon equilibration in ferrimagnetic insulators by ultrafast lattice excitation
To gain control over magnetic order on ultrafast time scales, a fundamental understanding of the way electron spins interact with the surrounding crystal lattice is required. However, measurement and analysis even of basic collective processes such as spin-phonon equilibration have remained challenging. Here, we directly probe the flow of energy and angular momentum in the model insulating ferrimagnet yttrium iron garnet. After ultrafast resonant lattice excitation, we observe that magnetic order reduces on distinct time scales of 1 ps and 100 ns. Temperature-dependent measurements, a spin-coupling analysis, and simulations show that the two dynamics directly reflect two stages of spin-lattice equilibration. On the 1-ps scale, spins and phonons reach quasi-equilibrium in terms of energy through phonon-induced modulation of the exchange interaction. This mechanism leads to identical demagnetization of the ferrimagnet’s two spin sublattices and to a previously inaccessible ferrimagnetic state of increased temperature yet unchanged total magnetization. Finally, on the much slower, 100-ns scale, the excess of spin angular momentum is released to the crystal lattice, resulting in full equilibrium. Our findings are relevant for all insulating ferrimagnets and indicate that spin manipulation by phonons, including the spin Seebeck effect, can be extended to antiferromagnets and into the terahertz frequency range.