1,600 research outputs found
Ferroelectricity from spin supercurrents in LiCuVO4
We have studied the magnetic structure of the ferroelectric frustrated
spin-1/2 chain material LiCuVO4 in applied electric and magnetic fields using
polarized neutrons. A symmetry and mean-field analysis of the data rules out
the presence of static Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, while exchange
striction is shown to be negligible by our specific-heat measurements. The
experimentally observed magnetoelectric coupling is in excellent agreement with
the predictions of a purely electronic mechanism based on spin supercurrents.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, final versio
Fractional spinon excitations in the quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chain
Assemblies of interacting quantum particles often surprise us with properties
that are difficult to predict. One of the simplest quantum many-body systems is
the spin 1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chain, a linear array of interacting
magnetic moments. Its exact ground state is a macroscopic singlet entangling
all spins in the chain. Its elementary excitations, called spinons, are
fractional spin 1/2 quasiparticles; they are created and detected in pairs by
neutron scattering. Theoretical predictions show that two-spinon states exhaust
only 71% of the spectral weight while higher-order spinon states, yet to be
experimentally located, are predicted to participate in the remaining. Here, by
accurate absolute normalization of our inelastic neutron scattering data on a
compound realizing the model, we account for the full spectral weight to within
99(8)%. Our data thus establish and quantify the existence of higher-order
spinon states. The observation that within error bars, the entire weight is
confined within the boundaries of the two-spinon continuum, and that the
lineshape resembles a rescaled two-spinon one, allow us to develop a simple
physical picture for understanding multi-spinon excitations.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures, Supplementary material
Spin reorientation transition in the incommensurate stripe-ordered phase of La3/2Sr1/2NiO4
The spin ordering of La3/2Sr1/2NiO4 was investigated by magnetization
measurements, and by unpolarized- and polarized-neutron diffraction. Spin
ordering with an incommensurability epsilon ~ 0.445 is observed below T_so ~ 80
K. On cooling, a spin reorientation is observed at 57 +/- 1 K, with the spin
axes rotating from 52 +/- 4 degrees to 78 +/- 3 degrees. This is the first time
a spin reorientation has been observed in a La2-xSrxNiO4+delta compound having
incommensurate stripe order.Comment: REVTex 4. 4 pages including 4 figures. Minor changes to text.
Accepted to be published in Physical Review
Evidence of a bond-nematic phase in LiCuVO4
Polarized and unpolarized neutron scattering experiments on the frustrated
ferromagnetic spin-1/2 chain LiCuVO4 show that the phase transition at HQ of 8
Tesla is driven by quadrupolar fluctuations and that dipolar correlations are
short-range with moments parallel to the applied magnetic field in the
high-field phase. Heat-capacity measurements evidence a phase transition into
this high-field phase, with an anomaly clearly different from that at low
magnetic fields. Our experimental data are consistent with a picture where the
ground state above HQ has a next-nearest neighbour bond-nematic order along the
chains with a fluid-like coherence between weakly coupled chains.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Haydeeite: a spin-1/2 kagome ferromagnet
The mineral haydeeite, alpha-MgCu3(OD)6Cl2, is a S=1/2 kagome ferromagnet
that displays long-range magnetic order below TC=4.2 K with a strongly reduced
moment. Our inelastic neutron scattering data show clear spin-wave excitations
that are well described by a Heisenberg Hamiltonian with ferromagnetic
nearest-neighbor exchange J1=-38 K and antiferromagnetic exchange Jd=+11 K
across the hexagons of the kagome lattice. These values place haydeeite very
close to the quantum phase transition between ferromagnetic order and
non-coplanar twelve-sublattice cuboc2 antiferromagnetic order. Diffuse dynamic
short-range ferromagnetic correlations observed above TC persist well into the
ferromagnetically ordered phase with a behavior distinct from critical
scattering
The food safety impact of salt and sodium reduction initiatives
Excessive or high salt or sodium intake is known to cause hypertension and other diseases. Within the United Kingdom voluntary targets for salt reduction have been set and laid out in the Secretary of State responsibility deal. This review considers the options available to food manufacturers to enable them to reduce salt and the potential food safety risks associated with those options. Gaps in research and knowledge within the areas of information supplied to food manufacturers, alternative solutions for salt replacement and the food safety impact of salt reduction are discussed
Low dimensional ordering and fluctuations in methanol--hydroquinone-clathrate studied by X-ray and neutron diffraction
Methanol--hydroquinone-clathrate has been established as a model
system for dielectric ordering and fluctuations and is conceptually close to
magnetic spin systems. In X-ray and neutron diffraction experiments, we
investigated the ordered structure, the one-dimensional (1D) and the
three-dimensional (3D) critical scattering in the paraelectric phase, and the
temperature dependence of the lattice constants. Our results can be explained
by microscopic models of the methanol pseudospin in the hydroquinone cage
network, in consistency with previous dielectric investigations
Field-induced commensurate long-range order in the Haldane-gap system NDMAZ
High-field neutron diffraction studies of the new quantum-disordered S=1
linear-chain antiferromagnet Ni(CHN)N(ClO) (NDMAZ)
are reported. At T=70 mK, at a critical field T applied along the
(013) direction, a phase transition to a commensurate N\'{e}el-like ordered
state is observed. The results are discussed in the context of existing
theories of quantum phase transitions in Haldane-gap antiferromagnets, and in
comparions with previous studies of the related system
Ni(CHN)N(PF)
- …