A neutron diffraction study of V1/3NbS2 : determination of the magnetic ground state and the effects of magnetic field

In recent years, there has been a large research interest in noncentrosymmetric systems in part due to the exotic physics these systems display. Examples of chiral magnets include a family of intercalated transition metal dichalcogenides. Of this family, Cr1/3NbS2 has been shown to host a chiral soliton lattice. Magnetic solitons are domain walls surrounded by regions of forced ferromagnetism. They have great potential for spintronic device applications. Previously, dc magnetisation measurements reported that V1/3NbS2 orders ferromagnetically, however, measurements on our new single crystal samples now suggest that V1/3NbS2 orders antiferromagnetically. We propose to use powder and single crystal neutron diffraction to establish the type of long range order and magnetic propagation vector and then to characterize the possible exotic magnetic structure under applied magnetic fields.