Use of reversible hydrides for hydrogen storage

The addition of metals or alloys whose hydrides have a high dissociation pressure allows a considerable increase in the hydrogenation rate of magnesium. The influence of temperature and hydrogen pressure on the reaction rate were studied. Results concerning the hydriding of magnesium rich alloys such as Mg2Ca, La2Mg17 and CeMg12 are presented. The hydriding mechanism of La2Mg17 and CeMg12 alloys is given

Magnetic anomalies in the spin chain system, Sr3_3Cu1−x_{1-x}Znx_xIrO6_6

We report the results of ac and dc magnetization (M) and heat-capacity (C) measurements on the solid solution, Sr$_3$Cu$_{1-x}$Zn$_x$IrO$_6$. While the Zn end member is known to form in a rhombohedral pseudo one-dimensional K$_4$CdCl$_6$ structure with an antiferromagnetic ordering temperature of (T$_N$ =) 19 K, the Cu end member has been reported to form in a monoclinically distorted form with a Curie temperature of (T$_C$ =) 19 K. The magnetism of the Zn compound is found to be robust to synthetic conditions and is broadly consistent with the behavior known in the literature. However, we find a lower magnetic ordering temperature (T$_o$) for our Cu compound (~ 13 K), thereby suggesting that T$_o$ is sensitive to synthetic conditions. The Cu sample appears to be in a spin-glass-like state at low temperatures, judged by a frequency dependence of ac magnetic susceptibility and a broadening of the C anomaly at the onset of magnetic ordering, in sharp contrast to earlier proposals. Small applications of magnetic field, however, drive this system to ferromagnetism as inferred from the M data. Small substitutions for Cu/Zn (x = 0.75 or 0.25) significantly depress magnetic ordering; in other words, T$_o$ varies non-monotonically with x (T$_o$ ~ 6, 3 and 4 K for x = 0.25, 0.5, and 0.67 respectively). The plot of inverse susceptibility versus temperature is non-linear in the paramagnetic state as if correlations within (or among) the magnetic chains continuously vary with temperature. The results establishComment: 7 pages, 7 figures, Revte

Magnetic frustration in a stoichiometric spin-chain compound, Ca3_3CoIrO6_6

The temperature dependent ac and dc magnetization and heat capacity data of Ca$_3$CoIrO$_6$, a spin-chain compound crystallizing in a K$_4$CdCl$_6$-derived rhombohedral structure, show the features due to magnetic ordering of a frustrated-type below about 30 K, however without exhibiting the signatures of the so-called "partially disordered antiferromagnetic structure" encountered in the isostructural compounds, Ca$_3$Co$_2$O$_6$ and Ca$_3$CoRhO$_6$. This class of compounds thus provides a variety for probing the consequences of magnetic frustration due to topological reasons in stoichiometric spin-chain materials, presumably arising from subtle differences in the interchain and intrachain magnetic coupling strengths. This compound presents additional interesting situations in the sense that, ac susceptibility exhibits a large frequency dependence in the vicinity of 30 K uncharacteristic of conventional spin-glasses, with this frustrated magnetic state being robust to the application of external magnetic fields.Comment: Physical Review (Rapid Communications), in pres

A microscopic model for a class of mixed-spin quantum antiferromagnets

We propose a microscopic model that describes the magnetic behavior of the mixed-spin quantum systems R$_2$BaNiO$_5$ (R= magnetic rare earth). An evaluation of the properties of this model by Quantum Monte Carlo simulations shows remarkable good agreement with the experimental data and provides new insight into the physics of mixed-spin quantum magnets.Comment: revised version to be published in Phys. Rev.

Random interactions and spin-glass thermodynamic transition in the hole-doped Haldane system Y2−x_{2-x}Cax_xBaNiO5_5

Magnetization, DC and AC bulk susceptibility of the $S$=1 Haldane chain system doped with electronic holes, Y$_{2-x}$Ca$_x$BaNiO$_5$ (0$\leq$x$\leq$0.20), have been measured and analyzed. The most striking results are (i) a sub-Curie power law behavior of the linear susceptibility, $\chi (T)$$\sim$ $T$$^{-\alpha}$, for temperature lower than the Haldane gap of the undoped compound (x=0) (ii) the existence of a spin-glass thermodynamic transition at $T$$_g$ = 2-3 K. These findings are consistent with (i) random couplings within the chains between the spin degrees of freedom induced by hole doping, (ii) the existence of ferromagnetic bonds that induce magnetic frustration when interchain interactions come into play at low temperature.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Comparison of S=0 and S=1/2 Impurities in Haldane Chain Compound, Y2BaNiO5Y_{2}BaNiO_{5}

We present the effect of Zn (S=0) and Cu (S=1/2) substitution at the Ni site of S=1 Haldane chain compound $Y_{2}BaNiO_{5}$. $^{89}$Y NMR allows us to measure the local magnetic susceptibility at different distances from the defects. The $^{89}$Y NMR spectrum consists of one central peak and several less intense satellite peaks. The shift of the central peak measures the uniform susceptibility, which displays a Haldane gap $Delta$$equiv$100 K and it corresponds to an AF coupling J$equiv$260 K between the near-neighbor Ni spins. Zn or Cu substitution does not affect the Haldane gap. The satellites, which are evenly distributed on the two sides of the central peak, probe the antiferromagnetic staggered magnetization near the substituted site, which decays exponentially. Its extension is found identical for both impurities and corresponds accurately to the correlation length $xi$(T) determined by Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations for the pure compound. In the case of non-magnetic Zn, the temperature dependence of the induced magnetization is consistent with a Curie law with an "effective" spin S=0.4 on each side of Zn, which is well accounted by Quantum Monte Carlo computations of the spinless-defect-induced magnetism. In the case of magnetic Cu, the similarity of the induced magnetism to the Zn case implies a weak coupling of the Cu spin to the nearest- neighbor Ni spins. The slight reductionin the induced polarization with respect to Zn is reproduced by QMC computations by considering an antiferromagnetic coupling of strength J'=0.1-0.2 J between the S=1/2 Cu-spin and nearest-neighbor Ni-spin.Comment: 15 pages, 18 figures, submitted to Physical Review

Impurities in s=1s=1 Heisenberg Antiferromagnets

The $s=1$ Heisenberg Antiferromagnet is studied in the presence of two kinds of local impurities. First, a perturbed antiferromagnetic bond with $J'\ne J$ at the center of an even-length open chain is considered. Using the density matrix renormalization group method we find that, for sufficiently strong or weak $J'$, a bound state is localized at the impurity site, giving rise to an energy level in the Haldane gap. The energy of the bound state is in agreement with perturbative results, based on $s=1/2$ chain-end excitations, both in the weak and strong coupling limit. In a region around the uniform limit, $J'=J$, no states are found with energy below the Haldane gap. Secondly, a $s=1/2$ impurity at the center of an otherwise even-length open chain is considered. The coupling to the $s=1/2$ impurity is varied. Bound states in the Haldane gap are found {\it only} for sufficiently weak (antiferromagnetic) coupling. For a $s=1/2$ impurity coupled with a strong (antiferromagnetic) bond, {\it no} states are found in the Haldane. Our results are in good qualitative agreement with recent experiments on doped NENP and Y$_2$BaNiO$_5$.Comment: 29 pages, RevTeX 3.0, 12 uuencoded postscript figures include

S=1/2S=1/2 Chain-Boundary Excitations in the Haldane Phase of 1D S=1S=1 Systems

The $s=1/2$ chain-boundary excitations occurring in the Haldane phaseof $s=1$ antiferromagnetic spin chains are investigated. The bilinear-biquadratic hamiltonian is used to study these excitations as a function of the strength of the biquadratic term, $\beta$, between $-1\le\beta\le1$. At the AKLT point, $\beta=-1/3$, we show explicitly that these excitations are localized at the boundaries of the chain on a length scale equal to the correlation length $\xi=1/\ln 3$, and that the on-site magnetization for the first site is $=2/3$. Applying the density matrixrenormalization group we show that the chain-boundaryexcitations remain localized at the boundaries for $-1\le\beta\le1$. As the two critical points $\beta=\pm1$ are approached the size of the $s=1/2$ objects diverges and their amplitude vanishes.Comment: 4 Pages, 4 eps figures. Uses RevTeX 3.0. Submitted to PR