Multiferroicity in spin ice: towards a magnetic crystallography of Tb2Ti2O7 in a field

We combine two aspects of magnetic frustration, multiferroicity and emergent quasi-particles in spin liquids, by studying magneto-electric monopoles. Spin ice offers to couple these emergent topological defects to external fields, and to each other, in unusual ways, making possible to lift the degeneracy underpinning the spin liquid and to potentially stabilize novel forms of charge crystals, opening the path to a "magnetic crystallography". In developing the general phase diagram including nearest-neighbour coupling, Zeeman energy, electric and magnetic dipolar interactions, we uncover the emergence of a bi-layered crystal of singly-charged monopoles, whose stability, remarkably, is strengthened by an external [110] magnetic field. Our theory is able to account for the ordering process of Tb2Ti2O7 in large field for reasonably small electric energy scales.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figure

Reentrance of disorder in the anisotropic shuriken Ising model

For a material to order upon cooling is common sense. What is more seldom is for disorder to reappear at lower temperature, which is known as reentrant behavior. Such resurgence of disorder has been observed in a variety of systems, ranging from Rochelle salts to nematic phases in liquid crystals. Frustration is often a key ingredient for reentrance mechanisms. Here we shall study a frustrated model, namely the anisotropic shuriken lattice, which offers a natural setting to explore an extension of the notion of reentrance between magnetic disordered phases. By tuning the anisotropy of the lattice, we open a window in the phase diagram where magnetic disorder prevails down to zero temperature. In this region, the competition between multiple disordered ground states gives rise to a double crossover where both the low- and high-temperature regimes are less correlated than the intervening classical spin liquid. This reentrance of disorder is characterized by an entropy plateau, a multi-step Curie law crossover and a rather complex diffuse scattering in the static structure factor. Those results are confirmed by complementary numerical and analytical methods: Monte Carlo simulations, Husimi-tree calculations and an exact decoration-iteration transformation.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figure

Rheological behaviour and spectroscopic investigations of cerium-modified AlO(OH)colloidal suspensions

The rheological behaviour of aqueous suspensions of boehmite (AlO(OH)) modified with different Ce-salts (Ce(NO3)3, CeCl3, Ce(CH3COO)3 and Ce2(SO4)3) was investigated at a fixed Ce/Al molar ratio (0.05). Freshly prepared boehmite suspensions were near-Newtonian and time-independent. A shear-sensitive thixotropic network developed when Ce-salts with monovalent anions were introduced in the nanoparticle sols. The extent of particle aggregation dramatically increased with ageing for Ce(NO3)3 and CeCl3 whereas an equilibrium value was reached with Ce(CH3COO)3. The addition of Ce2(SO4)3 with divalent anions involved no thixotropy but rather a sudden phase separation. The combined data set of IRTF and DRIFT spectra indicated that free View the MathML source anions of peptized boehmite adsorb on the nanoparticle surface by H-bond. The introduction of Ce-salts in the boehmite sol led to the coordination between Ce3+ ions and View the MathML source anions adsorbed on boehmite i.e. to [Ce(NO3)4(H2O)x]− complex. Such coordination led to a thixotropic behaviour which was lower with Ce(NO3)3 compared to CeCl3 and Ce(CH3COO)3. In contrast, Ce2(SO4)3 formed insoluble complexes with dissolved aluminium species. The formation of H-bonded surface nitrate complexes was found to play a decisive role on the particle–particle interactions and consequently on the rheological behaviour of the sols

Living on the edge : ground-state selection in quantum spin-ice pyrochlores

The search for new quantum phases, especially in frustrated magnets, is central to modern condensed matter physics. One of the most promising places to look is in rare-earth pyrochlore magnets with highly-anisotropic exchange interactions, materials closely related to the spin ices Ho2Ti2O7 and Dy2Ti2O7. Here we establish a general theory of magnetic order in these materials. We find that many of their most interesting properties can be traced back to the accidental degeneracies where phases with different symmetry meet. These include the ordered ground state selection by fluctuations in Er2Ti2O7, the dimensional-reduction observed in Yb2Ti2O7, and the absence of magnetic order in Er2Sn2O7.Comment: A long-paper version of this preprint, "Living on the Edge", appears as arXiv:1603.09466 [accepted for publication in Physical Review B]. The text of v2 is otherwise unchanged from v1 (Submitted on 14 Nov 2013

Orfeo en Pausanias: entre el mito y la “diferencia

The intention in this paper is analyze how and why Pausanias relate the difference with the mythic Orpheus. This will reveal another face of the vast myth of the bard. For this particular research some aspects of Orpheus myth will be studied: place of birth, appearance, legend, magician’s role and his relation with Musaeus and the Eleusinian Mysteries.La intención de este trabajo es revelar la visión de Pausanias acerca de un mito tan amplio y heterogéneo como es el de Orfeo, así como analizar cómo y por qué surge la noción de «diferencia» en el Periegeta relacionada con la figura mítica del bardo. Para establecer con claridad la posición de Pausanias en lo que respecta a las tradiciones atribuidas al cantor, se analizan aspectos como el origen de Orfeo, el aspecto que poseía, su leyenda, su carácter de mago y su relación con Museo y los Misterios de Eleusis

Signature of magnetic monopole and Dirac string dynamics in spin ice

International audienceMagnetic monopoles have eluded experimental detection since their prediction nearly a century ago by Dirac. Recently it has been shown that classical analogues of these enigmatic particles occur as excitations out of the topological ground state of a model magnetic system, dipolar spin ice. These quasi-particle excitations do not require a modification of Maxwell's equations, but they do interact via Coulombs law and are of magnetic origin. In this paper we present an experimentally measurable signature of monopole dynamics and show that magnetic relaxation measurements in the spin ice material $Dy_{2}Ti_{2}O_{7}$ can be interpreted entirely in terms of the diffusive motion of monopoles in the grand canonical ensemble, constrained by a network of ``Dirac strings'' filling the quasi-particle vacuum. In a magnetic field the topology of the network prevents charge flow in the steady state, but there is a monopole density gradient near the surface of an open system

Classical spin liquids in stacked triangular lattice Ising antiferromagnets

We study Ising antiferromagnets that have nearest-neighbour interactions on multilayer triangular lattices with frustrated ($abc$ and $abab$) stacking, and make comparisons with the unfrustrated ($aaa$) stacking. If interlayer couplings are much weaker than in-plane ones, the paramagnetic phase of models with frustrated stackings has a classical spin-liquid regime at low temperature, in which correlations are strong both within and between planes, but there is no long-range order. We investigate this regime using Monte Carlo simulations and by mapping the spin models to coupled height models, which are treated using renormalisation group methods and an analysis of the effects of vortex excitations. The classical spin-liquid regime is parametrically wide at small interlayer coupling in models with frustrated stackings. By contrast, for the unfrustrated stacking there is no extended regime in which interlayer correlations are strong without three-dimensional order.Comment: 25 pages, 21 figures; version to appear in Physical Review B, includes minor correction