Berry phase in magnetoelectric materials

Abstract

Weak magnetism of antiferromagnetic crystals, such as MnCO3, CoCO3, and spin arrangement in antiferromagnets of low symmetry can be studied using the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction. Such interactions may also be present sometimes in some spin-chain systems like magnetoelectric multiferroics. These materials could in principle be prime candidates for solid state NMR quantum computing based on manipulation of geometric phases. However, recent preliminary studies appear to show that a small presence of DM interaction could dampen magnitudes of the geometric phases. © 2009 World Scientific Publishing Company.