Spin wave excitations in magnetic helices and skyrmion lattices

Chiral magnets are materials that lack inversion symmetry in their crystal structure and contain a number of different magnetic phases. In this thesis we focus on cubic crystals. Besides a field-polarized phase for strong applied magnetic fields and a paramagnetic phase above a critical temperature, there are the more interesting helical and conical phases as well as, most prominently, a trigonal lattice of topologically stable magnetic whirls, so-called skyrmions. Their recent discovery in MnSi has sparked a great interest in them, largely because of their topological nature and the prospects of novel applications, for instance in future magnetic storage devices. The last three mentioned phases are spin textures due to the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya spin-orbit interaction which is induced by the aforementioned lack of inversion symmetry. We theoretically study spin wave excitations with a focus on these phases, which are essential to understand for dynamic applications