Helicity, anisotropies, and their competition in a multiferroic magnet: Insight from the phase diagram

Motivated by the complex phase diagram of MnWO4, we investigate the competition between anisotropy, magnetic field, and helicity for the anisotropic next-nearest-neighbor Heisenberg model. Apart from two competing exchanges, which favor a spiralmagnetic structure, the model features the biaxial single-ion anisotropy. The model is treated in the real-space mean-field approximation and the phase diagram containing various incommensurate and commensurate states is obtained for different field orientations. We discuss the similarities and differences of the theoretical phase diagram and the experimental diagram of MnWO4.