Magneto-optical effect induced by spin chirality of the itinerant ferromagnet Nd2Mo2O7

Abstract

It is demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally that the spin chirality associated with a noncoplanar spin configuration produces a magneto-optical effect. Numerical study of the two-band Hubbard model on a triangle cluster shows that the optical Hall conductivity σxy(ω) is proportional to the spin chirality. The detailed comparative experiments on pyrochlore-type molybdates R2Mo2O7 with R=Nd (Ising-like moments) and R=Gd (Heisenberg-like ones) clearly distinguishes the two mechanisms, i.e., spin chirality and spin-orbit interactions. It is concluded that for R=Nd,σxy(ω) is dominated by the spin chirality for the dc (ω=0) and the d→d incoherent intraband optical transitions between Mo atoms. © 2005 The American Physical Society.