Band structure of magnetic excitations in the vortex phase of a ferromagnetic superconductor

Abstract

Magnetic excitations in a ferromagnetic superconductor in the presence of an Abrikosov vortex lattice have been studied using the phenomenological London and Landau-Lifshitz equations. Due to the periodicity of the vortex field the magnon spectrum has a band structure, similar to the structure of the electon spectrum in a crystal lattice. The gaps between adjacent bands have been calculated using an analog of the weak-binding approximation. When the applied magnetic field is altered the band structure undergoes a qualitative transformation due to commensurability effects, connected with the nonmonotonicity of the magnon spectrum in the Meissner state. In dirty samples the energy gaps may be smeared out because of the dissipation connected with vortex motion. In sufficiently clean samples the gaps manifest themselves as maxima in the frequency dependence of the microwave reflectivity coefficient.

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