1,324 research outputs found
Pr magnetism and its interplay with the Fe spin density wave in PrFeAsO
We have studied the magnetism of the Pr3+ ions in PrFeAsO_1-xF_x (x = 0;
0.15) and its interaction with the Fe magnetic order (for x = 0). Specific heat
data confirm the presence of a first excited crystal electric field (CEF) level
around 3.5 meV in the undoped compound PrFeAsO. This finding is in agreement
with recent neutron scattering experiments. The doped compound is found to have
a much lower first CEF splitting of about 2.0 meV. The Pr ordering in PrFeAsO
gives rise to large anomalies in the specific heat and the thermal expansion
coefficient. In addition, a field-induced transition is found at low
temperatures that is most pronounced for the magnetostriction coefficient. This
transition, which is absent in the doped compound, is attributed to a reversal
of the Fe spin canting as the antiferromagnetic Pr order is destroyed by the
external magnetic field.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
Amorphous ferromagnetism and re-entrant magnetic glassiness in SmMoO: new insights into the electronic phase diagram of pyrochlore molybdates
We discuss the magnetic properties of a SmMoO single
crystal as investigated by means of different experimental techniques. In the
literature, a conventional itinerant ferromagnetic state is reported for the
Mo sublattice below K. However, our results of dc
magnetometry, muon spin spectroscopy (SR) and high-harmonics magnetic
ac susceptibility unambiguously evidence highly disordered conditions in this
phase, in spite of the crystalline and chemical order. This disordered magnetic
state shares several common features with amorphous ferromagnetic alloys. This
scenario for SmMoO is supported by the anomalously high
values of the critical exponents, as mainly deduced by a scaling analysis of
our dc magnetization data and confirmed by the other techniques. Moreover,
SR detects a significant static magnetic disorder at the microscopic
scale. At the same time, the critical divergence of the third-harmonic
component of the ac magnetic susceptibility around K leads to
additional evidence towards the glassy nature of this magnetic phase. Finally,
the longitudinal relaxation of spin polarization (also supported by
results of ac susceptibility) evidences re-entrant glassy features similar to
amorphous ferromagnets.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figure
Quenched charge disorder in CuO2 spin chains: Experimental and numerical studies
We report on measurements of the magnetic response of the anisotropic CuO_2
spin chains in lightly hole-doped La_x (Ca,Sr)_14-x Cu_24 O_41, x>=5. The
experimental data suggest that in magnetic fields B >~ 4T (applied along the
easy axis) the system is characterized by short-range spin order and
quasi-static (quenched) charge disorder. The magnetic susceptibility chi(B)
shows a broad anomaly, which we interpret as the remnant of a spin-flop
transition. To corroborate this idea, we present Monte Carlo simulations of a
classical, anisotropic Heisenberg model with randomly distributed, static
holes. Our numerical results clearly show that the spin-flop transition of the
pure model (without holes) is destroyed and smeared out due to the disorder
introduced by the quasi-static holes. Both the numerically calculated
susceptibility curves chi(B) and the temperature dependence of the position of
the anomaly are in qualitative agreement with the experimental data.Comment: 10 pages, REVTeX4. 11 figures; v2: Fig.2 replaced, small changes in
Figs.1 and 11; minor revisons in Sec. III.C; accepted by Phys. Rev.
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