Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-condensed-matter-physics-major-option-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2019/5/d/solution

The canted pattern has opposite components but a common component. Write neighboring spins as and . Their scalar product is , and the cross-product magnitude is .
There are three exchange bonds per spin, two eligible bonds per spin for the term, and one single-ion term per spin. Hence
For the branch close to the collinear state,
Minimization is equivalent to maximizing , which gives
The chosen branch is a minimum of the energy because it maximizes that positive-amplitude sinusoid. The resulting state is a canted antiferromagnet with a small common moment. The source's absolute-value interaction selects a canting magnitude but is symmetric between the two signs of the weak moment; it is not an oriented vector Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction specifying a unique handedness.

New to topics? Read the docs here!