Freezing of a Stripe Liquid

The existence of a stripe-liquid phase in a layered nickelate, La(1.725)Sr(0.275)NiO(4), is demonstrated through neutron scattering measurements. We show that incommensurate magnetic fluctuations evolve continuously through the charge-ordering temperature, although an abrupt decrease in the effective damping energy is observed on cooling through the transition. The energy and momentum dependence of the magnetic scattering are parametrized with a damped-harmonic-oscillator model describing overdamped spin-waves in the antiferromagnetic domains defined instantaneously by charge stripes.Comment: 4 2-col pages, including 5 figures; Final version, to be published in PR

How to detect fluctuating order in the high-temperature superconductors

We discuss fluctuating order in a quantum disordered phase proximate to a quantum critical point, with particular emphasis on fluctuating stripe order. Optimal strategies for extracting information concerning such local order from experiments are derived with emphasis on neutron scattering and scanning tunneling microscopy. These ideas are tested by application to two model systems - the exactly solvable one dimensional electron gas with an impurity, and a weakly-interacting 2D electron gas. We extensively review experiments on the cuprate high-temperature superconductors which can be analyzed using these strategies. We adduce evidence that stripe correlations are widespread in the cuprates. Finally, we compare and contrast the advantages of two limiting perspectives on the high-temperature superconductor: weak coupling, in which correlation effects are treated as a perturbation on an underlying metallic (although renormalized) Fermi liquid state, and strong coupling, in which the magnetism is associated with well defined localized spins, and stripes are viewed as a form of micro-phase separation. We present quantitative indicators that the latter view better accounts for the observed stripe phenomena in the cuprates.Comment: 43 pages, 11 figures, submitted to RMP; extensively revised and greatly improved text; one new figure, one new section, two new appendices and more reference

Competing magnetostructural phases in a semiclassical system

The interplay between charge, structure, and magnetism gives rise to rich phase diagrams in complex materials with exotic properties emerging when phases compete. Molecule-based materials are particularly advantageous in this regard due to their low energy scales, flexible lattices, and chemical tunability. Here, we bring together high pressure Raman scattering, modeling, and first principles calculations to reveal the pressure-temperature-magnetic field phase diagram of Mn[N(CN)2]2. We uncover how hidden soft modes involving octahedral rotations drive two pressure-induced transitions triggering the low ??? high magnetic anisotropy crossover and a unique reorientation of exchange planes. These magnetostructural transitions and their mechanisms highlight the importance of spin-lattice interactions in establishing phases with novel magnetic properties in Mn(II)-containing systems

Octopus, a computational framework for exploring light-driven phenomena and quantum dynamics in extended and finite systems

Over the last few years, extraordinary advances in experimental and theoretical tools have allowed us to monitor and control matter at short time and atomic scales with a high degree of precision. An appealing and challenging route toward engineering materials with tailored properties is to find ways to design or selectively manipulate materials, especially at the quantum level. To this end, having a state-of-the-art ab initio computer simulation tool that enables a reliable and accurate simulation of light-induced changes in the physical and chemical properties of complex systems is of utmost importance. The first principles real-space-based Octopus project was born with that idea in mind, i.e., to provide a unique framework that allows us to describe non-equilibrium phenomena in molecular complexes, low dimensional materials, and extended systems by accounting for electronic, ionic, and photon quantum mechanical effects within a generalized time-dependent density functional theory. This article aims to present the new features that have been implemented over the last few years, including technical developments related to performance and massive parallelism. We also describe the major theoretical developments to address ultrafast light-driven processes, such as the new theoretical framework of quantum electrodynamics density-functional formalism for the description of novel light–matter hybrid states. Those advances, and others being released soon as part of the Octopus package, will allow the scientific community to simulate and characterize spatial and time-resolved spectroscopies, ultrafast phenomena in molecules and materials, and new emergent states of matter (quantum electrodynamical-materials).This work was supported by the European Research Council (Grant No. ERC-2015-AdG694097), the Cluster of Excellence “Advanced Imaging of Matter” (AIM), Grupos Consolidados (IT1249-19), and SFB925. The Flatiron Institute is a division of the Simons Foundation. X.A., A.W., and A.C. acknowledge that part of this work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC52-07A27344. J.J.-S. gratefully acknowledges the funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 795246-StrongLights. J.F. acknowledges financial support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG Forschungsstipendium FL 997/1-1). D.A.S. acknowledges University of California, Merced start-up funding.Peer reviewe

Muon study of the spin dynamics in the organic spin-peierls compound MEM(TCNQ)₂

We report a muon spin relaxation study of the organic spin-Peierls system MEM(TCNQ)(2) over the temperature range 39 mK to 200 K. Our results show a crossover from Gaussian to exponential relaxation below the spin-Peierls transition temperature. We attribute this change to the effect of a dilute set of static electronic defect spins resulting from the majority of spins freezing into a non-magnetic spin singlet state

Facilitating discussion of diversity: a problem-based approach

We present the results of mu SR experiments on a variety of molecular magnetic materials, either purely organic or combinations of transition metal ions and organic groups, which have been recently prepared. In a purely organic metamagnet, tanol suberate, we have observed a spin precession signal with a temperature dependence which has provided evidence of the two-dimensional nature of the antiferromagnetic ground state. In a family of dicyanamide-based molecular magnets with ordering temperatures of up to 21 K, and in a ferrimagnetic cobalt hydroxide, mu SR has been used to study the temperature dependence of the spin fluctuations. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved