131 research outputs found
Half-ordered state in the anisotropic Haldane-gap antiferromagnet NDMAP
Neutron diffraction experiments performed on the Haldane gap material NDMAP
in high magnetic fields applied at an angle to the principal anisotropy axes
reveal two consecutive field-induced phase transitions. The low-field phase is
the gapped Haldane state, while at high fields the system exhibits
3-dimensional long-range Neel order. In a peculiar phase found at intermediate
fields only half of all the spin chains participate in the long-range ordering,
while the other half remains disordered and gapped.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Magnetic frustration in an iron based Cairo pentagonal lattice
The Fe3+ lattice in the Bi2Fe4O9 compound is found to materialize the first
analogue of a magnetic pentagonal lattice. Due to its odd number of bonds per
elemental brick, this lattice, subject to first neighbor antiferromagnetic
interactions, is prone to geometric frustration. The Bi2Fe4O9 magnetic
properties have been investigated by macroscopic magnetic measurements and
neutron diffraction. The observed non-collinear magnetic arrangement is related
to the one stabilized on a perfect tiling as obtained from a mean field
analysis with direct space magnetic configurations calculations. The
peculiarity of this structure arises from the complex connectivity of the
pentagonal lattice, a novel feature compared to the well-known case of
triangle-based lattices
Phase Diagram of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Helimagnet Ba2CuGe2O7 in Canted Magnetic Fields
The evolution of different magnetic structures of non-centrosymmetric
Ba2CuGe2O7 is systematically studied as function of the orientation of the
magnetic field H. Neutron diffraction in combination with measurements of
magnetization and specific heat show a virtually identical behaviour of the
phase diagram of Ba2CuGe2O7 for H confined in both the (1,0,0) and (1,1,0)
plane. The existence of a recently proposed incommensurate double-k AF-cone
phase is confirmed in a narrow range for H close to the tetragonal c-axis. For
large angles enclosed by H and the c-axis a complexely distorted non-sinusoidal
magnetic structure has recently been observed. We show that its critical field
Hc systematically increases for larger canting. Measurements of magnetic
susceptibility and specific heat finally indicate the existence of an
incommensurate/commensurate transition for H /sim 9 T applied in the basal
(a,b)-plane and agree with a non-planar, distorted cycloidal magnetic
structure.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figure
Cooperative ordering of gapped and gapless spin networks in CuFeGeO
The unusual magnetic properties of a novel low-dimensional quantum
ferrimagnet CuFeGeO are studied using bulk methods, neutron
diffraction and inelastic neutron scattering. It is shown that this material
can be described in terms of two low-dimensional quantum spin subsystems, one
gapped and the other gapless, characterized by two distinct energy scales.
Long-range magnetic ordering observed at low temperatures is a cooperative
phenomenon caused by weak coupling of these two spin networks.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Single domain magnetic helicity and triangular chirality in structurally enantiopure Ba3NbFe3Si2O14
A novel doubly chiral magnetic order is found out in the structurally chiral
langasite compound BaNbFeSiO. The magnetic moments are
distributed over planar frustrated triangular lattices of triangle units. On
each of these they form the same triangular configuration. This ferro-chiral
arrangement is helically modulated from plane to plane. Unpolarized neutron
scattering on a single crystal associated with spherical neutron polarimetry
proved that a single triangular chirality together with a single helicity is
stabilized in an enantiopure crystal. A mean field analysis allows discerning
the relevance on this selection of a twist in the plane to plane
supersuperexchange paths
Ocean Planet or Thick Atmosphere: On the Mass-Radius Relationship for Solid Exoplanets with Massive Atmospheres
The bulk composition of an exoplanet is commonly inferred from its average
density. For small planets, however, the average density is not unique within
the range of compositions. Variations of a number of important planetary
parameters--which are difficult or impossible to constrain from measurements
alone--produce planets with the same average densities but widely varying bulk
compositions. We find that adding a gas envelope equivalent to 0.1%-10% of the
mass of a solid planet causes the radius to increase 5-60% above its gas-free
value. A planet with a given mass and radius might have substantial water ice
content (a so-called ocean planet) or alternatively a large rocky-iron core and
some H and/or He. For example, a wide variety of compositions can explain the
observed radius of GJ 436b, although all models require some H/He. We conclude
that the identification of water worlds based on the mass-radius relationship
alone is impossible unless a significant gas layer can be ruled out by other
means.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted to Ap
Low temperature structural effects in the (TMTSF)PF and AsF Bechgaard salts
We present a detailed low-temperature investigation of the statics and
dynamics of the anions and methyl groups in the organic conductors
(TMTSF)PF and (TMTSF)AsF (TMTSF :
tetramethyl-tetraselenafulvalene). The 4 K neutron scattering structure
refinement of the fully deuterated (TMTSF)PF-D12 salt allows locating
precisely the methyl groups at 4 K. This structure is compared to the one of
the fully hydrogenated (TMTSF)PF-H12 salt previously determined at the
same temperature. Surprisingly it is found that deuteration corresponds to the
application of a negative pressure of 5 x 10 MPa to the H12 salt. Accurate
measurements of the Bragg intensity show anomalous thermal variations at low
temperature both in the deuterated PF and AsF salts. Two different
thermal behaviors have been distinguished. Low-Bragg-angle measurements reflect
the presence of low-frequency modes at characteristic energies {\theta} =
8.3 K and {\theta} = 6.7 K for the PF-D12 and AsF-D12 salts,
respectively. These modes correspond to the low-temperature methyl group
motion. Large-Bragg-angle measurements evidence an unexpected structural change
around 55 K which probably corresponds to the linkage of the anions to the
methyl groups via the formation of F...D-CD2 bonds observed in the 4 K
structural refinement. Finally we show that the thermal expansion coefficient
of (TMTSF)PF is dominated by the librational motion of the PF
units. We quantitatively analyze the low-temperature variation of the lattice
expansion via the contribution of Einstein oscillators, which allows us to
determine for the first time the characteristic frequency of the PF6
librations: {\theta} = 50 K and {\theta} = 76 K for the PF-D12 and
PF-H12 salts, respectively
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