86 research outputs found
NMR imaging of the soliton lattice profile in the spin-Peierls compound CuGeO_3
In the spin-Peierls compound CuGeO, the commensurate-incommensurate
transition concerning the modulation of atomic position and the local
spin-polarization is fully monitored at T=0 by the application of an external
magnetic field () above a threshold value 13 Tesla. The
solitonic profile of the spin-polarization, as well as its absolute magnitude,
has been precisely imaged from NMR lineshapes obtained for
varying from 0.0015 to 2. This offers a unique possibility
to test quantitatively the various numerical and analytical methods developed
to solve a generic Hamiltonian in 1-D physics, namely strongly interacting
fermions in presence of electron-phonon coupling at arbitrary band filling.Comment: 3 pages, 4 eps figures, RevTeX, submitted to Physical Review Lette
Zero Temperature Phase Transition in Spin-ladders: Phase Diagram and Dynamical studies of Cu(Hp)Cl
In a magnetic field, spin-ladders undergo two zero-temperature phase
transitions at the critical fields Hc1 and Hc2. An experimental review of
static and dynamical properties of spin-ladders close to these critical points
is presented. The scaling functions, universal to all quantum critical points
in one-dimension, are extracted from (a) the thermodynamic quantities
(magnetization) and (b) the dynamical functions (NMR relaxation). A simple
mapping of strongly coupled spin ladders in a magnetic field on the exactly
solvable XXZ model enables to make detailed fits and gives an overall
understanding of a broad class of quantum magnets in their gapless phase
(between Hc1 and Hc2). In this phase, the low temperature divergence of the NMR
relaxation demonstrates its Luttinger liquid nature as well as the novel
quantum critical regime at higher temperature. The general behaviour close
these quantum critical points can be tied to known models of quantum magnetism.Comment: few corrections made, 15 pages, to be published in European Journal
of Physics
Atomic and Electronic Structure of a Rashba - Junction at the BiTeI Surface
The non-centrosymmetric semiconductor BiTeI exhibits two distinct surface
terminations that support spin-split Rashba surface states. Their ambipolarity
can be exploited for creating spin-polarized - junctions at the
boundaries between domains with different surface terminations. We use scanning
tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS) to locate such junctions and
investigate their atomic and electronic properties. The Te- and I-terminated
surfaces are identified owing to their distinct chemical reactivity, and an
apparent height mismatch of electronic origin. The Rashba surface states are
revealed in the STS spectra by the onset of a van Hove singularity at the band
edge. Eventually, an electronic depletion is found on interfacial Te atoms,
consistent with the formation of a space charge area in typical -
junctions.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Giant alkali-metal-induced lattice relaxation as the driving force of the insulating phase of alkali-metal/Si(111):B
Ab initio density-functional theory calculations, photoemission spectroscopy (PES), scanning tunneling microscopy, and spectroscopy (STM, STS) have been used to solve the 2√3 x 2√3R30 surface reconstruction observed previously by LEED on 0.5 ML K/Si:B. A large K-induced vertical lattice relaxation occurring only for 3/4 of Si adatoms is shown to quantitatively explain both the chemical shift of 1.14 eV and the ratio 1/3 measured on the two distinct B 1s core levels. A gap is observed between valence and conduction surface bands by ARPES and STS which is shown to have mainly a Si-B character. Finally, the calculated STM images agree with our experimental results. This work solves the controversy about the origin of the insulating ground state of alkali-metal/Si(111):B semiconducting interfaces which were believed previously to be related to many-body effectsThis work has received the financial support of the French ANR SURMOTT program (ANR-09-BLAN- 0210-01) and the Spanish MICIIN under Project No. FIS2010-1604
Charge Order Driven spin-Peierls Transition in NaV2O5
We conclude from 23Na and 51V NMR measurements in NaxV2O5(x=0.996) a charge
ordering transition starting at T=37 K and preceding the lattice distortion and
the formation of a spin gap Delta=106 K at Tc=34.7 K. Above Tc, only a single
Na site is observed in agreement with the Pmmn space group of this first
1/4-filled ladder system. Below Tc=34.7 K, this line evolves into eight
distinct 23Na quadrupolar split lines, which evidences a lattice distortion
with, at least, a doubling of the unit cell in the (a,b) plane. A model for
this unique transition implying both charge density wave and spin-Peierls order
is discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Self-ordered nanoporous lattice formed by chlorine atoms on Au(111)
A self-ordered nanoporous lattice formed by individual chlorine atoms on the Au(111) surface has been studied with low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy, low-energy electron diffraction, and density functional theory calculations. We have found out that room-temperature adsorption of 0.09–0.30 monolayers of chlorine on Au(111) followed by cooling below 110 K results in the spontaneous formation of a nanoporous quasihexagonal structure with a periodicity of 25–38 Å depending on the initial chlorine coverage. The driving force of the superstructure formation is attributed to the substrate-mediated elastic interaction
Ultrafast Atomic Diffusion Inducing a Reversible (2√3×2√3)R30°↔(√3×√3)R30° Transition on Sn/Si(111)∶B
Dynamical phase transitions are a challenge to identify experimentally and describe theoretically. Here, we study a new reconstruction of Sn on silicon and observe a reversible transition where the surface unit cell divides its area by a factor of 4 at 250 °C. This phase transition is explained by the 24-fold degeneracy of the ground state and a novel diffusive mechanism, where four Sn atoms arranged in a snakelike cluster wiggle at the surface exploring collectively the different quantum mechanical ground states.This work was supported by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) under Contract SurMott, No. NT-09-618999, and by Spanish Ministerio de EconomÃa y Competitividad, Project No. MAT2014-59966-R
Possible Localized Modes in the Uniform Quantum Heisenberg Chains of Sr2CuO3
A model of mobile-bond defects is tentatively proposed to analyze the
"anomalies" observed on the NMR spectrum of the quantum Heisenberg chains of
Sr2CuO3. A bond-defect is a local change in the exchange coupling. It results
in a local alternating magnetization (LAM), which when the defect moves,
creates a flipping process of the local field seen by each nuclear spin. At low
temperature, when the overlap of the LAM becomes large, the defects form a
periodic structure, which extends over almost all the chains. In that regime,
the density of bond-defects decreases linearly with T.Comment: 4 pages + 3 figures. To appear in Physical Review
An unexpected organometallic intermediate in surface-confined Ullmann coupling
Ullmann coupling or, more generally, dehalogenative aryl-aryl coupling, is one of the most widely exploited chemical reactions to obtain one- and two-dimensional polymers on metal surfaces. It is generally described as a two-step reaction: (i) dehalogenation, resulting in the formation of a stable intermediate organometallic phase and subsequent (ii) C-C coupling. The topology of the resulting polymer depends on the number and positions of the halogen atoms in the haloaromatic precursor, although its orientation and order are determined by the structure of the intermediate phase. Hitherto, only one intermediate structure, identified as an organometallic (OM) phase, has been reported for such a reaction. Here we demonstrate the formation of two distinct OM phases during the temperature-induced growth of poly(para-phenylene) from 1,4-dibromobenzene precursors on Cu(110). Beyond the already known linear-OM chains, we show that a phase reorganization to a chessboard-like 2D-OM can be activated in a well-defined temperature range. This new intermediate phase, revealed only when the reaction is carried out at low molecular coverages, was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy, and modeled by density functional theory calculations. Our data show that the 2D-OM remains stable after cooling down the sample and is stabilized by four-Cu clusters at each node. The observation of such unexpected intermediate phase shows the complexity of the mechanisms underlying on-surface synthesis and broadens the understanding of Ullmann coupling, which continues to be astonishing despite its extensive use
Zigzag Charge Ordering in alpha'-NaV2O5
23Na NMR spectrum measurements in alpha'-NaV2O5 with a single- crystalline
sample are reported. In the charge-ordered phase, the number of inequivalent Na
sites observed is more than that expected from the low-temperature structures
of space group Fmm2 reported so far. This disagreement indicates that the real
structure including both atomic displacement and charge disproportionation is
of lower symmetry. It is suggested that zigzag ordering is the most probable.
The temperature variation of the NMR spectra near the transition temperature is
incompatible with that of second-order transitions. It is thus concluded that
the charge ordering transition is first-order.Comment: 4 pages, 5 eps figures, submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jp
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