59 research outputs found
Crystalline Electric Field Randomness in the Triangular Lattice Spin-Liquid YbMgGaO
We apply moderate-high-energy inelastic neutron scattering (INS) measurements
to investigate Yb crystalline electric field (CEF) levels in the
triangular spin-liquid candidate YbMgGaO. Three CEF excitations from the
ground-state Kramers doublet are centered at the energies = 39,
61, and 97\,meV in agreement with the effective \mbox{spin-1/2} -factors and
experimental heat capacity, but reveal sizable broadening. We argue that this
broadening originates from the site mixing between Mg and Ga
giving rise to a distribution of Yb--O distances and orientations and, thus, of
CEF parameters that account for the peculiar energy profile of the CEF
excitations. The CEF randomness gives rise to a distribution of the effective
spin-1/2 -factors and explains the unprecedented broadening of low-energy
magnetic excitations in the fully polarized ferromagnetic phase of YbMgGaO,
although a distribution of magnetic couplings due to the Mg/Ga disorder may be
important as well.Comment: Accepted in Phys. Rev. Let
Nearest-neighbor resonating valence bonds in YbMgGaO4
Since its proposal by Anderson, resonating valence bonds (RVB) formed by a
superposition of fluctuating singlet pairs have been a paradigmatic concept in
understanding quantum spin liquids (QSL). Here, we show that excitations
related to singlet breaking on nearest-neighbor bonds describe the high-energy
part of the excitation spectrum in YbMgGaO4, the effective spin-1/2 frustrated
antiferromagnet on the triangular lattice, as originally considered by
Anderson. By a thorough single-crystal inelastic neutron scattering (INS)
study, we demonstrate that nearest-neighbor RVB excitations account for the
bulk of the spectral weight above 0.5 meV. This renders YbMgGaO4 the first
experimental system where putative RVB correlations restricted to nearest
neighbors are observed, and poses a fundamental question of how complex
interactions on the triangular lattice conspire to form this unique many-body
state.Comment: To be published in Nature Communication
Crystalline Electric Field Randomness in the Triangular Lattice Spin-Liquid YbMgGaO
We apply moderate-high-energy inelastic neutron scattering (INS) measurements
to investigate Yb crystalline electric field (CEF) levels in the
triangular spin-liquid candidate YbMgGaO. Three CEF excitations from the
ground-state Kramers doublet are centered at the energies = 39,
61, and 97\,meV in agreement with the effective \mbox{spin-1/2} -factors and
experimental heat capacity, but reveal sizable broadening. We argue that this
broadening originates from the site mixing between Mg and Ga
giving rise to a distribution of Yb--O distances and orientations and, thus, of
CEF parameters that account for the peculiar energy profile of the CEF
excitations. The CEF randomness gives rise to a distribution of the effective
spin-1/2 -factors and explains the unprecedented broadening of low-energy
magnetic excitations in the fully polarized ferromagnetic phase of YbMgGaO,
although a distribution of magnetic couplings due to the Mg/Ga disorder may be
important as well.Comment: Accepted in Phys. Rev. Let
Evidence for SrHo2O4 and SrDy2O4 as model J1-J2 zig-zag chain materials
Neutron diffraction and inelastic spectroscopy is used to characterize the
magnetic Hamiltonian of SrHo2O4 and SrDy2O4. Through a detailed computation of
the crystal-field levels we find site- dependent anisotropic single-ion
magnetism in both materials and diffraction measurements show the presence of
strong one-dimensional spin correlations. Our measurements indicate that
competing interactions of the zig-zag chain, combined with frustrated
interchain interactions, play a crucial role in stabilizing spin-liquid type
correlations in this series.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Avoided quasiparticle decay and enhanced excitation continuum in the spin-1/2 near-Heisenberg triangular antiferromagnet Ba3CoSb2O9
We explore the magnetic excitations of the spin-1/2 triangular
antiferromagnet Ba3CoSb2O9 in its 120 degree ordered phase using single-crystal
high-resolution inelastic neutron scattering. Sharp magnons with no decay are
observed throughout reciprocal space, with a strongly renormalized dispersion
and multiple soft modes compared to linear spin wave theory. We propose an
empirical parametrization that can quantitatively capture the complete
dispersions in the three-dimensional Brillouin zone and explicitly show that
the dispersion renormalizations have the direct consequence that one to two
magnon decays are avoided throughout reciprocal space, whereas such decays
would be allowed for the unrenormalized dispersions. At higher energies, we
observe a very strong continuum of excitations with highly-structured intensity
modulations extending up at least 4x the maximum one-magnon energy. The
one-magnon intensities decrease much faster upon increasing energy than
predicted by linear spin wave theory and the higher-energy continuum contains
much more intensity than can be accounted for by a two-magnon cross-section,
suggesting a significant transfer of spectral weight from the high-energy
magnons into the higher-energy continuum states. We attribute the strong
dispersion renormalizations and substantial transfer of spectral weight to
continuum states to the effect of quantum fluctuations and interactions beyond
the spin wave approximation, and make connections to theoretical approaches
that might capture such effects. Finally, through measurements in a strong
applied magnetic field, we find evidence for magnetic domains with opposite
senses for the spin rotation in the 120 degree ordered ground state, as
expected in the absence of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions, when the sense
of spin rotation is selected via spontaneous symmetry breaking.Comment: 20 pages, 13 figure
Tuning the confinement potential between spinons in the Ising chain CoNb2O6 using longitudinal fields and quantitative determination of the microscopic Hamiltonian
The Ising chain realizes the fundamental paradigm of spin fractionalization,
where locally flipping a spin creates two domain walls (spinons) that can
separate apart at no energy cost. In a quasi-one-dimensional system, the
mean-field effects of the weak three-dimensional couplings confine the spinons
into a Zeeman ladder of two-spinon bound states. Here, we experimentally tune
the confinement potential between spinons in the quasi-one-dimensional Ising
ferromagnet CoNb2O6 by means of an applied magnetic field with a large
component along the Ising direction. Using high-resolution single crystal
inelastic neutron scattering, we directly observe how the spectrum evolves from
the limit of very weak confinement at low field (with many closely-spaced bound
states with energies scaling as the field strength to the power 2/3) to very
strong confinement at high field (where it consists of a magnon and a
dispersive two-magnon bound state, with a linear field dependence). At
intermediate fields, we explore how the higher-order bound states disappear
from the spectrum as they move to higher energies and overlap with the
two-particle continuum. By performing a global fit to the observed spectrum in
zero field and high field applied along two orthogonal directions, combined
with a quantitative parameterization of the interchain couplings, we propose a
refined single chain and interchain Hamiltonian that quantitatively reproduces
all observed dispersions and their field dependence.Comment: 20 pages, 13 figure
Monocytes regulate the mechanism of T-cell death by inducing Fas-mediated apoptosis during bacterial infection.
Monocytes and T-cells are critical to the host response to acute bacterial infection but monocytes are primarily viewed as amplifying the inflammatory signal. The mechanisms of cell death regulating T-cell numbers at sites of infection are incompletely characterized. T-cell death in cultures of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) showed 'classic' features of apoptosis following exposure to pneumococci. Conversely, purified CD3(+) T-cells cultured with pneumococci demonstrated necrosis with membrane permeabilization. The death of purified CD3(+) T-cells was not inhibited by necrostatin, but required the bacterial toxin pneumolysin. Apoptosis of CD3(+) T-cells in PBMC cultures required 'classical' CD14(+) monocytes, which enhanced T-cell activation. CD3(+) T-cell death was enhanced in HIV-seropositive individuals. Monocyte-mediated CD3(+) T-cell apoptotic death was Fas-dependent both in vitro and in vivo. In the early stages of the T-cell dependent host response to pneumococci reduced Fas ligand mediated T-cell apoptosis was associated with decreased bacterial clearance in the lung and increased bacteremia. In summary monocytes converted pathogen-associated necrosis into Fas-dependent apoptosis and regulated levels of activated T-cells at sites of acute bacterial infection. These changes were associated with enhanced bacterial clearance in the lung and reduced levels of invasive pneumococcal disease
Upgrade of the MARI spectrometer at ISIS
The MARI direct geometry time-of-flight neutron spectrometer at ISIS has been
upgraded with an supermirror guide and new detector electronics. This has
resulted in a flux gain of at {\AA}, and
improvements on discriminating electrical noise, allowing MARI to continue to
deliver a high quality science program well into its fourth decade of life
Resonantly pumped optical pumping injection cavity lasers
An optical parametric oscillator is tuned to the resonance wavelength of the etalon in an optical pumping injection cavity (OPIC) laser with a type-II "W" active region, thereby minimizing the threshold pump intensity and maximizing the output slope efficiency. Previous OPIC experiments employed fixed-wavelength sources with only limited tuning available by adjusting the incident angle. Low threshold pump intensities of 330 W/cm(2) at 100 K and 14 kW/cm(2) at 300 K (where the output wavelength is 3200 nm) were achieved. The energy conversion efficiency is found to decrease by over a factor of 100 when the pump wavelength is tuned from the resonance condition (1822 nm at 300 K) to only slightly off resonance (e.g., 1808 nm). (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics
Extrinsic Rewards and Intrinsic Motives: Standard and Behavioral Approaches to Agency and Labor Markets
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