Magnetic fluctuations and superconductivity in Fe pnictides probed by electron spin resonance

The electron spin resonance absorption spectrum of Eu^{2+} ions serves as a probe of the normal and superconducting state in Eu_{0.5}K_{0.5}Fe_2As_2. The spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T_1^{\rm ESR} obtained from the ESR linewidth exhibits a Korringa-like linear increase with temperature above T_C evidencing a normal Fermi-liquid behavior. Below 45 K deviations from the Korringa-law occur which are ascribed to enhanced magnetic fluctuations within the FeAs layers upon approaching the superconducting transition. Below T_C the spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T_1^{\rm ESR} follows a T^{1.5}-behavior without the appearance of a coherence peak.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Electron spin resonance and exchange paths in the orthorhombic dimer system Sr2VO4

We report on magnetization and electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements of Sr$_{2}$VO$_4$ with orthorhombic symmetry. In this dimer system the $V^{4+}$ ions are in tetrahedral environment and are coupled by an antiferromagnetic intra-dimer exchange constant $J/k_B \approx$ 100 K to form a singlet ground state without any phase transitions between room temperature and 2 K. Based on an extended-H\"{u}ckel-Tight-Binding analysis we identify the strongest exchange interaction to occur between two inequivalent vanadium sites via two intermediate oxygen ions. The ESR absorption spectra can be well described by a single Lorentzian line with an effective g-factor $g$ = 1.89. The temperature dependence of the ESR intensity is well described by a dimer model in agreement with the magnetization data. The temperature dependence of the ESR linewidth can be modeled by a superposition of a linear increase with temperature with a slope $\alpha$ = 1.35 Oe/K and a thermally activated behavior with an activation energy $\Delta/k_B$ = 1418 K, both of which point to spin-phonon coupling as the dominant relaxation mechanism in this compound.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Weak ferromagnetism and glassy state in kappa-(BEDT-TTF)2Hg(SCN)2Br

Since the first observation of weak ferromagnetism in the charge-transfer salt kappa-(BEDT-TTF)2-Cu[N(CN)2]Cl [U. Welp et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 69, 840 (1992)], no further evidence of ferromagnetism in this class of organic materials has been reported. Here we present static and dynamic spin susceptibility measurements on kappa-(BEDT-TTF)2Hg(SCN)2Br revealing weak ferromagnetism below about TWF = 20 K. We suggest that frustrated spins in the molecular dimers suppress long-range order, forming a spin-glass ground state in the insulating phase

Complex nature of magnetic field-induced ferroelectricity in GdCrTiO5

This work shows an unconventional route for spin-driven ferroelectricity originating from a metastable magnetic field-induced canting of chromium sublattice in the presence of gadolinium moments in GdCrTiO5 at low temperatures. Compared to the isostructural neodymium compound, significant differences of magnetism and magnetoelectric effects are seen. We present the results of thorough investigations of temperature and magnetic field dependent magnetization as well as ac and dc magnetic susceptibility. These bulk measurements are complemented by local-probe spectroscopy utilizing electron-spin resonance and muon-spin rotation/relaxation for probing the chromium moments. Ferroelectric order is inferred from pyro- and magnetocurrent measurements. GdCrTiO5 shows a pyrocurrent signal around 10 K, only if the system is cooled in an applied magnetic field exceeding 10 kOe. A distinct spin-driven ferroelectric order is revealed in this state for temperatures below 10 K, which can be switched by changing magnetic-field direction and the polarity of the electric field. But, the magnetic measurements reveal no clear signature of long-range magnetic ordering. The presence of such meta-magnetoelectric-type behaviour in the absence of any meta-magnetic behavior is rare in the literature. Our microscopic spectroscopy results indicate significant changes of the magnetic properties around 10 K. Probably there is an exchange frustration between Gd and Cr moments, which prevents long-range magnetic ordering at further high temperature. Below 10 K, weak magnetic ordering occurs by minimizing frustration due to lattice distortion, which helps in magnetodielectric coupling. However, the non-polar distortion attains appreciable values after application of magnetic fields above 10 kOe to break the spatial inversion symmetry, which creates ferroelectricity.Comment: accepted in PR

Nonequilibrium relaxation study of the anisotropic antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on the triangular lattice

Effect of exchange anisotropy on the relaxation time of spin and vector chirality is studied for the antiferromagnetic classical Heisenberg model on the triangular lattice by using the nonequilibrium relaxation Monte Carlo method. We identify the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition and the chiral transition in a wide range of the anisotropy, even for very small anisotropy of $\sim$ 0.01%. As the anisotropy decreases, both the critical temperatures steeply decrease, while the BKT critical region becomes divergently wide. We elucidate a sharp "V shape" of the phase diagram around the isotropic Heisenberg point, which suggests that the isotropic case is exceptionally singular and the associated Z vortex transition will be isolated from the BKT and chiral transitions. We discuss the relevance of our results to peculiar behavior of the spin relaxation time observed experimentally in triangular antiferromagnets.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in J. Phys. Soc. Jp

Magnetic correlations in infinite-layer nickelates: an experimental and theoretical multi-method study

We report a comprehensive study of magnetic correlations in LaNiO$_{2}$, a parent compound of the recently discovered family of infinite-layer (IL) nickelate superconductors, using multiple experimental and theoretical methods. Our specific heat, muon-spin rotation ($\mu$SR), and magnetic susceptibility measurements on polycrystalline LaNiO$_{2}$ show that long-range magnetic order remains absent down to 2 K. Nevertheless, we detect residual entropy in the low-temperature specific heat, which is compatible with a model fit that includes paramagnon excitations. The $\mu$SR and low-field static and dynamic magnetic susceptibility measurements indicate the presence of short-range magnetic correlations and glassy spin dynamics, which we attribute to local oxygen non-stoichiometry in the average infinite-layer crystal structure. This glassy behavior can be suppressed in strong external fields, allowing us to extract the intrinsic paramagnetic susceptibility. Remarkably, we find that the intrinsic susceptibility shows non-Curie-Weiss behavior at high temperatures, in analogy to doped cuprates that possess robust non-local spin fluctuations. The distinct temperature dependence of the intrinsic susceptibility of LaNiO$_{2}$ can be theoretically understood by a multi-method study of the single-band Hubbard model in which we apply complementary cutting-edge quantum many-body techniques (dynamical mean-field theory, cellular dynamical mean-field theory and the dynamical vertex approximation) to investigate the influence of both short- and long-ranged correlations. Our results suggest a profound analogy between the magnetic correlations in parent (undoped) IL nickelates and doped cuprates.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figure

Electron spin resonance in Eu based Fe pnictides

The phase diagrams of EuFe$_{2-x}$Co$_x$As$_2$ $(0 \leq x \leq 0.4)$ and EuFe$_2$As$_{2-y}$P$_y$ $(0 \leq y \leq 0.43)$ are investigated by Eu$^{2+}$ electron spin resonance (ESR) in single crystals. From the temperature dependence of the linewidth $\Delta H(T)$ of the exchange narrowed ESR line the spin-density wave (SDW) $(T < T_{\rm SDW})$ and the normal metallic regime $(T > T_{\rm SDW})$ are clearly distinguished. At $T > T_{\rm SDW}$ the isotropic linear increase of the linewidth is driven by the Korringa relaxation which measures the conduction-electron density of states at the Fermi level. For $T < T_{\rm SDW}$ the anisotropy probes the local ligand field, while the coupling to the conduction electrons disappears. With increasing substitution $x$ or $y$ the transition temperature $T_{\rm SDW}$ decreases linearly accompanied by a linear decrease of the Korringa-relaxation rate from 8 Oe/K at $x=y=0$ down to 3 Oe/K at the onset of superconductivity at $x \approx 0.2$ or at $y \approx 0.3$, above which it remains nearly constant. Comparative ESR measurements on single crystals of the Eu diluted SDW compound Eu$_{0.2}$Sr$_{0.8}$Fe$_2$As$_2$ and superconducting (SC) Eu$_{0.22}$Sr$_{0.78}$Fe$_{1.72}$Co$_{0.28}$As$_2$ corroborate the leading influence of the ligand field on the Eu$^{2+}$ spin relaxation in the SDW regime as well as the Korringa relaxation in the normal metallic regime. Like in Eu$_{0.5}$K$_{0.5}$Fe$_2$As$_2$ a coherence peak is not detected in the latter compound at $T_{\rm c}=21$ K, which is in agreement with the expected complex anisotropic SC gap structure

Softened magnetic excitations in the s = 3/2 distorted triangular antiferromagnet alpha-CaCr2O4

The spin dynamics and magnetic excitations of the slightly distorted triangular s = 3/2 system alpha-CaCr2O4 are investigated by means of Raman spectroscopy and electron spin resonance (ESR) to elucidate its peculiar magnetic properties. Two-magnon excitations in circular RL symmetry show a multi-maximum structure with a dominant spectral weight at low energies. The temperature dependence of the ESR linewidth is described by a critical broadening DeltaHpp(T) ~ (T - T_N)^{-p} with the exponent p = 0.30(3) - 0.38(5) for temperatures above T_N = 42.6 K. The exponent is much smaller than that of other s = 3/2 triangular lattices. This is ascribed to soft roton-like modes, indicative of the instability of a helical 120{\deg} phase. As an origin we discuss a complex spin topology formed by four inequivalent nearest neighbor and sizable next-nearest neighbor interactions.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure