We study the finite-temperature spin dynamics of the paramagnetic phase of iron pnictides within an antiferromagnetic J 1 -J 2 Heisenberg model on a square lattice with a biquadratic coupling −K(S i · S j ) 2 between the nearest-neighbor spins. Our focus is on the paramagnetic phase in the parameter regime of this J 1 -J 2 -K model where the ground state is a (π,0) collinear antiferromagnet. We treat the biquadratic interaction via a Hubbard-Stratonovich decomposition and study the resulting effective quadratic-coupling model using both modified spin wave and Schwinger boson mean-field theories; the results for the spin dynamics derived from the two methods are very similar. We show that the spectral weight of dynamical structure factor S(q,ω) is peaked at ellipses in the momentum space at low excitation energies. With increasing energy, the elliptic features expand towards the zone boundary and gradually split into two parts, forming a pattern around (π,π). Finally, the spectral weight is anisotropic, being larger along the major axis of the ellipse than along its minor axis. These characteristics of the dynamical structure factor are consistent with the recent measurements of the inelastic neutron scattering spectra of BaFe 2 As 2 and SrFe 2 As 2 .

Low dimensional quantum magnets are interesting because of the emerging collective behavior arising from strong quantum fluctuations. The one-dimensional (1D) S = 1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet is a paradigmatic example, whose low-energy excitations, known as spinons, carry fractional spin S = 1/2. These fractional modes can be reconfined by the application of a staggered magnetic field. Even though considerable progress has been made in the theoretical understanding of such magnets, experimental realizations of this low-dimensional physics are relatively rare. This is particularly true for rare-earth-based magnets because of the large effective spin anisotropy induced by the combination of strong spin–orbit coupling and crystal field splitting. Here, we demonstrate that the rare-earth perovskite YbAlO3 provides a realization of a quantum spin S = 1/2 chain material exhibiting both quantum critical Tomonaga–Luttinger liquid behavior and spinon confinement–deconfinement transitions in different regions of magnetic field–temperature phase diagram.

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We consider a C 6 invariant lattice of magnetic moments coupled via a Kondo exchange J with a 2D electron gas (2DEG). The effective Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interaction between the moments stabilizes a magnetic skyrmion crystal in the presence of magnetic field and easy-axis anisotropy. An attractive aspect of this mechanism is that the magnitude of the magnetic ordering wave vectors, Q ν (ν = 1, 2, 3), is dictated by the Fermi wave number k F : |Q ν | = 2k F . Consequently, the topological contribution to the Hall conductivity of the 2DEG becomes of the order of the quantized value, e 2 /h, when J is comparable to the Fermi energy F .