43 research outputs found
Collinear order in a frustrated three-dimensional spin- antiferromagnet LiCuWO
Magnetic frustration in three dimensions (3D) manifests itself in the
spin- insulator LiCuWO. Density-functional band-structure
calculations reveal a peculiar spin lattice built of triangular planes with
frustrated interplane couplings. The saturation field of 29 T contrasts with
the susceptibility maximum at 8.5 K and a relatively low N\'eel temperature
K. Magnetic order below is collinear with the propagation
vector and an ordered moment of 0.65(4) according to
neutron diffraction data. This reduced ordered moment together with the low
maximum of the magnetic specific heat () pinpoint strong
magnetic frustration in 3D. Collinear magnetic order suggests that quantum
fluctuations play crucial role in this system, where a non-collinear spiral
state would be stabilized classically.Comment: published version with supplemental material merged into the tex
The double life of electrons in magnetic iron pnictides, as revealed by NMR
We present a phenomenological, two-fluid approach to understanding the
magnetic excitations in Fe pnictides, in which a paramagnetic fluid with
gapless, incoherent particle-hole excitations coexists with an
antiferromagnetic fluid with gapped, coherent spin wave excitations. We show
that this two-fluid phenomenology provides an excellent quantitative
description of NMR data for magnetic "122" pnictides, and argue that it finds a
natural justification in LSDA and spin density wave calculations. We further
use this phenomenology to estimate the maximum renormalisation of the ordered
moment that can follow from low-energy spin fluctuations in Fe pnictides. We
find that this is too small to account for the discrepancy between ab intio
calculations and neutron scattering measurements.Comment: Accepted for publication in Europhys. Lett. 6 pages, 4 figure
Magnetic-field enhanced aniferromagnetism in non-centrosymmetric heavy-fermion superconductor CePtSi
The effect of magnetic field on the static and dynamic spin correlations in
the non-centrosymmetric heavy-fermion superconductor CePtSi was
investigated by neutron scattering. The application of a magnetic field B
increases the antiferromagnetic (AFM) peak intensity. This increase depends
strongly on the field direction: for B[0 0 1] the intensity
increases by a factor of 4.6 at a field of 6.6 T, which corresponds to more
than a doubling of the AFM moment, while the moment increases by only 10 % for
B[1 0 0] at 5 T. This is in strong contrast to the inelastic
response near the antiferromagnetic ordering vector, where no marked field
variations are observed for B[0 0 1] up to 3.8 T. The results
reveal that the AFM state in CePtSi, which coexists with superconductivity,
is distinctly different from other unconventional superconductors.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Dimensional reduction by pressure in the magnetic framework material CuF(DO)pyz: from spin-wave to spinon excitations
Metal organic magnets have enormous potential to host a variety of electronic
and magnetic phases that originate from a strong interplay between the spin,
orbital and lattice degrees of freedom. We control this interplay in the
quantum magnet CuF(DO)pyz by using high pressure to drive the
system through a structural and magnetic phase transition. Using neutron
scattering, we show that the low pressure state, which hosts a two-dimensional
square lattice with spin-wave excitations and a dominant exchange coupling of
0.89 meV, transforms at high pressure into a one-dimensional spin-chain
hallmarked by a spinon continuum and a reduced exchange interaction of 0.43
meV. This direct microscopic observation of a magnetic dimensional crossover as
a function of pressure opens up new possibilities for studying the evolution of
fractionalised excitations in low dimensional quantum magnets and eventually
pressure-controlled metal--insulator transitions
Gains from the upgrade of the cold neutron triple-axis spectrometer FLEXX at the BER-II reactor
The upgrade of the cold neutron triple-axis spectrometer FLEXX is described.
We discuss the characterisation of the gains from the new primary spectrometer,
including a larger guide and double focussing monochromator, and present
measurements of the energy and momentum resolution and of the neutron flux of
the instrument. We found an order of magnitude gain in intensity (at the cost
of coarser momentum resolution), and that the incoherent elastic energy widths
are measurably narrower than before the upgrade. The much improved count rate
should allow the use of smaller single crystals samples and thus enable the
upgraded FLEXX spectrometer to continue making leading edge measurements.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, 5 table
Spin correlations and exchange in square lattice frustrated ferromagnets
The J1-J2 model on a square lattice exhibits a rich variety of different
forms of magnetic order that depend sensitively on the ratio of exchange
constants J2/J1. We use bulk magnetometry and polarized neutron scattering to
determine J1 and J2 unambiguously for two materials in a new family of vanadium
phosphates, Pb2VO(PO4)2 and SrZnVO(PO4)2, and we find that they have
ferromagnetic J1. The ordered moment in the collinear antiferromagnetic ground
state is reduced, and the diffuse magnetic scattering is enhanced, as the
predicted bond-nematic region of the phase diagram is approached.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Jahn-Teller versus quantum effects in the spin-orbital material LuVO3
We report on combined neutron and resonant x-ray scattering results,
identifying the nature of the spin-orbital ground state and magnetic
excitations in LuVO3 as driven by the orbital parameter. In particular, we
distinguish between models based on orbital Peierls dimerization, taken as a
signature of quantum effects in orbitals, and Jahn-Teller distortions, in favor
of the latter. In order to solve this long-standing puzzle, polarized neutron
beams were employed as a prerequisite in order to solve details of the magnetic
structure, which allowed quantitative intensity-analysis of extended magnetic
excitation data sets. The results of this detailed study enabled us to draw
definite conclusions about classical vs quantum behavior of orbitals in this
system and to discard the previous claims about quantum effects dominating the
orbital physics of LuVO3 and similar systems.Comment: Phys. Rev. B 91, 161104(R) (2015
Field-induced inter-planar correlations in the high-temperature superconductor La1.88Sr0.12CuO4
We present neutron scattering studies of the inter-planar correlations in the
high-temperature superconductor La1.88Sr0.12CuO4 (T_c=27 K). The correlations
are studied both in a magnetic field applied perpendicular to the CuO2 planes,
and in zero field under different cooling conditions. We find that the effect
of the magnetic field is to increase the magnetic scattering signal at all
values of the out-of-plane wave vector L, indicating an overall increase of the
magnetic moments. In addition, weak correlations between the copper oxide
planes develop in the presence of a magnetic field. This effect is not taken
into account in previous reports on the field effect of magnetic scattering,
since usually only L~0 is probed. Interestingly, the results of quench-cooling
the sample are similar to those obtained by applying a magnetic field. Finally,
a small variation of the incommensurate peak position as a function of L
provides evidence that the incommensurate signal is twinned with the dominating
and sub-dominant twin displaying peaks at even or odd L, respectively.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
Putative spin-nematic phase in BaCdVO(PO)
We report neutron scattering and AC magnetic susceptibility measurements of
the 2D spin-1/2 frustrated magnet BaCdVO(PO). At temperatures well
below , we show that only 34 % of the spin moment orders
in an up-up-down-down strip structure. Dominant magnetic diffuse scattering and
comparison to published sr measurements indicates that the remaining 66 %
is fluctuating. This demonstrates the presence of strong frustration,
associated with competing ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions, and
points to a subtle ordering mechanism driven by magnon interactions. On
applying magnetic field, we find that at K the magnetic order vanishes
at 3.8 T, whereas magnetic saturation is reached only above 4.5 T. We argue
that the putative high-field phase is a realization of the long-sought
bond-spin-nematic state