Conditions for Noncollinear Instabilities of Ferromagnetic Materials

Two criteria have been identified here which determine whether a magnetic metal orders in a collinear (e.g., ferromagnet) or noncollinear (e.g., spin-spiral) arrangement. These criteria involve the ratio between the strength of the exchange interaction and the width of the electron bands, as well as Fermi-surface nesting between spin-up and spin-down sheets of the Fermi surface. Based on our analysis we predict that even typical ferromagnetic materials (e.g., Fe, Co, and Ni) should be possible to stabilize in a noncollinear magnetic order in, e.g., high pressure experiments.