Ehrenfest relations and magnetoelastic effects in field-induced ordered phases

Magnetoelastic properties in field-induced magnetic ordered phases are studied theoretically based on a Ginzburg-Landau theory. A critical field for the field-induced ordered phase is obtained as a function of temperature and pressure, which determine the phase diagram. It is found that magnetic field dependence of elastic constant decreases discontinuously at the critical field, Hc, and that it decreases linearly with field in the ordered phase (H>Hc). We found an Ehrenfest relation between the field dependence of the elastic constant and the pressure dependence of critical field. Our theory provides the theoretical form for magnetoelastic properties in field- and pressure-induced ordered phases.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Dispersive magnetic excitations in the S=1 antiferromagnet Ba3_3Mn2_2O8_8

We present powder inelastic neutron scattering measurements of the S=1 dimerized antiferromagnet Ba$_3$Mn$_2$O$_8$. The $T=1.4$ K magnetic spectrum exhibits a spin-gap of $\Delta \approx 1.0$ meV and a dispersive spectrum with a bandwidth of approximately 1.5 meV. Comparison to coupled dimer models describe the dispersion and scattering intensity accurately and determine the exchange constants in Ba$_3$Mn$_2$O$_8$. The wave vector dependent scattering intensity confirms the proposed S=1 dimer bond. Temperature dependent measurements of the magnetic excitations indicate the presence of both singlet-triplet and thermally activated triplet-quintet excitations.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, Submitted to Physical Review B, Resubmited versio

Decrease in drug accumulation and in tumour aggressiveness marker expression in a fenretinide-induced resistant ovarianumour cell line

We investigated whether the efficacy of fenretinide (HPR) against ovarian tumours may be limited by induction of resistance. The human ovarian carcinoma cell line A2780, which is sensitive to a pharmacologically achievable HPR concentration (IC 50= 1 μM), became 10-fold more resistant after exposure to increasing HPR concentrations. The cells (A2780/HPR) did not show cross-resistance to the synthetic retinoid 6-[3-adamantyl-4-hydroxyphenyl]-2-naphthalene carboxylic acid (CD437) and were not sensitive, similarly to the parent line, to all- trans -retinoic acid, 13- cis -retinoic acid or N-(4-methoxyphenyl)retinamide. A2780/HPR cells showed, compared to parental cells, a 3-fold reduction in colony-forming ability in agar. The development of HPR resistance was associated with a marked increase in retinoic acid receptor β (RARβ) mRNA and protein levels, which decreased, together with drug resistance, after drug removal. The expression of cell surface molecules associated with tumour progression including HER-2, laminin receptor and β1 integrin was markedly reduced. The increase in the levels of reactive oxygen species is not involved in HPR-resistance because it was similar in parental and resistant cells. Conversely differences in pharmacokinetics may account for resistance because, in A2780/HPR cells, intracellular peak drug levels were 2 times lower than in A2780 cells and an as yet unidentified polar metabolite was present. These data suggest that acquired resistance to HPR is associated with changes in marker expression, suggestive of a more differentiated status and may be explained, at least in part, by reduced drug accumulation and increased metabolism. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer.co

Pressure-Induced Magnetic Quantum Phase Transition in Gapped Spin System KCuCl3

Magnetization and neutron elastic scattering measurements under a hydrostatic pressure were performed on KCuCl3, which is a three-dimensionally coupled spin dimer system with a gapped ground state. It was found that an intradimer interaction decreases with increasing pressure, while the sum of interdimer interactions increases. This leads to the shrinkage of spin gap. A quantum phase transition from a gapped state to an antiferromagnetic state occurs at Pc ? 8.2 kbar. For P > P c, magnetic Bragg reflections were observed at reciprocal lattice points equivalent to those for the lowest magnetic excitation at zero pressure. This confirms that the spin gap decreases and closes under applied pressure.Comment: 7 pages, 10 figures, submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jp

Spin-resonance modes of the spin-gap magnet TlCuCl_3

Three kinds of magnetic resonance signals were detected in crystals of the spin-gap magnet TlCuCl_3. First, we have observed the microwave absorption due to the excitation of the transitions between the singlet ground state and the excited triplet states. This mode has the linear frequency-field dependence corresponding to the previously known value of the zero-field spin-gap of 156 GHz and to the closing of spin-gap at the magnetic field H_c of about 50 kOe. Second, the thermally activated resonance absorption due to the transitions between the spin sublevels of the triplet excitations was found. These sublevels are split by the crystal field and external magnetic field. Finally, we have observed antiferromagnetic resonance absorption in the field-induced antiferromagnetic phase above the critical field H_c. This resonance frequency is strongly anisotropic with respect to the direction of the magnetic field.Comment: v.2: typo correction (one of the field directions was misprinted in the v.1

Pressure-Induced Magnetic Quantum Phase Transitions from Gapped Ground State in TlCuCl3

Magnetization maesurements under hydrostatic pressure were performed on an S=1/2 coupled spin system TlCuCl3 with a gapped ground state under magnetic field H parallel to the [2,0,1] direction. With increasing applied pressure P, the gap decreases and closes completely at Pc=0.42 kbar. For P>Pc, TlCuCl3 undergoes antiferromagnetic ordering. A spin-flop transition was observed at Hsf=0.7T. The spin-flop field is approximately independent of pressure, although the sublattice magnetization increases with pressure. The gap and Neel temperature are presented as function is attributed to to the relative enhancement of the interdimer exchange interactions compared with the intradimer exchange interaction.Comment: 4pages,3figures To be published in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. Vol.73 No.1

Neutron Diffraction Study of the Pressure-Induced Magnetic Ordering in the Spin Gap System TlCuCl3_3

Neutron elastic scattering measurements have been performed under the hydrostatic pressure in order to investigate the spin structure of the pressure-induced magnetic ordering in the spin gap system TlCuCl$_3$. Below the ordering temperature $T_{\rm N}=16.9$ K for the hydrostatic pressure $P=1.48$ GPa, magnetic Bragg reflections were observed at the reciprocal lattice points {\mib Q}=(h, 0, l) with integer $h$ and odd $l$, which are equivalent to those points with the lowest magnetic excitation energy at ambient pressure. This indicates that the spin gap closes due to the applied pressure. The spin structure of the pressure-induced magnetic ordered state for $P=1.48$ GPa was determined.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 3 eps files, jpsj2.cls styl

Frustration-Induced Two Dimensional Quantum Disordered Phase in Piperazinium Hexachlorodicuprate

Piperazinium Hexachlorodicuprate (PHCC) is shown to be a frustrated quasi-two-dimensional quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet with a gapped spectrum. Zero-field inelastic neutron scattering and susceptibility and specific heat measurements as a function of applied magnetic field are presented. At T = 1.5 K, the magnetic excitation spectrum is dominated by a single propagating mode with a gap, Delta = 1 meV, and bandwidth of approximately 1.8 meV in the (h0l) plane. The mode has no dispersion along the b* direction indicating that neighboring a-c planes of the triclinic structure are magnetically decoupled. The heat capacity shows a reduction of the gap as a function of applied magnetic field in agreement with a singlet-triplet excitation spectrum. A field-induced ordered phase is observed in heat capacity and magnetic susceptibility measurements for magnetic fields greater than H_c1 approximately equal to 7.5 Tesla. Analysis of the neutron scattering data reveals the important exchange interactions and indicates that some of these are highly frustrated.Comment: 13 pages with 14 figures, 7 pages of text, 6 pages of figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. B 4/7/2001. email comments to [email protected] or [email protected]

Ab initio investigation of VOSeO3, a spin gap system with coupled spin dimers

Motivated by an early experimental study of VOSeO3, which suggested that it is a quasi-2D system of weakly coupled spin dimers with a small spin gap, we have investigated the electronic structure of this material via density-functional calculations. These ab initio results indicate that the system is better thought of as an alternating spin-1/2 chain with moderate interchain interactions, an analog of (VO)2P2O7. The potential interest of this system for studies in high magnetic field given the presumably small value of the spin gap is emphasized.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure