Magnetization Process of Kagome-Lattice Heisenberg Antiferromagnet

The magnetization process of the isotropic Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the kagome lattice is studied. Data obtained from the numerical-diagonalization method are reexamined from the viewpoint of the derivative of the magnetization with respect to the magnetic field. We find that the behavior of the derivative at approximately one-third of the height of the magnetization saturation is markedly different from that for the cases of typical magnetization plateaux. The magnetization process of the kagome-lattice antiferromagnet reveals a new phenomenon, which we call the "magnetization ramp".Comment: 4 pages, 5figures, accepted in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn

Distribution of exchange energy in a bond-alternating S=1 quantum spin chain

The quasi-one-dimensional bond-alternating S=1 quantum antiferromagnet NTENP is studied by single crystal inelastic neutron scattering. Parameters of the measured dispersion relation for magnetic excitations are compared to existing numerical results and used to determine the magnitude of bond-strength alternation. The measured neutron scattering intensities are also analyzed using the 1st-moment sum rules for the magnetic dynamic structure factor, to directly determine the modulation of ground state exchange energies. These independently determined modulation parameters characterize the level of spin dimerization in NTENP. First-principle DMRG calculations are used to study the relation between these two quantities.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figure

High field level crossing studies on spin dimers in the low dimensional quantum spin system Na2_2T2_2(C2_2O4_4)3_3(H2_2O)2_2 with T=Ni,Co,Fe,Mn

In this paper we demonstrate the application of high magnetic fields to study the magnetic properties of low dimensional spin systems. We present a case study on the series of 2-leg spin-ladder compounds Na$_2$T$_2$(C$_2$O$_4$)$_3$(H$_2$O)$_2$ with T = Ni, Co, Fe and Mn. In all compounds the transition metal is in the $T^{2+}$ high spin configuation. The localized spin varies from S=1 to 3/2, 2 and 5/2 within this series. The magnetic properties were examined experimentally by magnetic susceptibility, pulsed high field magnetization and specific heat measurements. The data are analysed using a spin hamiltonian description. Although the transition metal ions form structurally a 2-leg ladder, an isolated dimer model consistently describes the observations very well. This behaviour can be understood in terms of the different coordination and superexchange angles of the oxalate ligands along the rungs and legs of the 2-leg spin ladder. All compounds exhibit magnetic field driven ground state changes which at very low temperatures lead to a multistep behaviour in the magnetization curves. In the Co and Fe compounds a strong axial anisotropy induced by the orbital magnetism leads to a nearly degenerate ground state and a strongly reduced critical field. We find a monotonous decrease of the intradimer magnetic exchange if the spin quantum number is increased

Spin-lattice instability to a fractional magnetization state in the spinel HgCr2O4

Magnetic systems are fertile ground for the emergence of exotic states when the magnetic interactions cannot be satisfied simultaneously due to the topology of the lattice - a situation known as geometrical frustration. Spinels, AB2O4, can realize the most highly frustrated network of corner-sharing tetrahedra. Several novel states have been discovered in spinels, such as composite spin clusters and novel charge-ordered states. Here we use neutron and synchrotron X-ray scattering to characterize the fractional magnetization state of HgCr2O4 under an external magnetic field, H. When the field is applied in its Neel ground state, a phase transition occurs at H ~ 10 Tesla at which each tetrahedron changes from a canted Neel state to a fractional spin state with the total spin, Stet, of S/2 and the lattice undergoes orthorhombic to cubic symmetry change. Our results provide the microscopic one-to-one correspondence between the spin state and the lattice distortion

Measuring every particle's size from three-dimensional imaging experiments

Often experimentalists study colloidal suspensions that are nominally monodisperse. In reality these samples have a polydispersity of 4-10%. At the level of an individual particle, the consequences of this polydispersity are unknown as it is difficult to measure an individual particle size from microscopy. We propose a general method to estimate individual particle radii within a moderately concentrated colloidal suspension observed with confocal microscopy. We confirm the validity of our method by numerical simulations of four major systems: random close packing, colloidal gels, nominally monodisperse dense samples, and nominally binary dense samples. We then apply our method to experimental data, and demonstrate the utility of this method with results from four case studies. In the first, we demonstrate that we can recover the full particle size distribution {\it in situ}. In the second, we show that accounting for particle size leads to more accurate structural information in a random close packed sample. In the third, we show that crystal nucleation occurs in locally monodisperse regions. In the fourth, we show that particle mobility in a dense sample is correlated to the local volume fraction.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Calculating the energy spectra of magnetic molecules: application of real- and spin-space symmetries

The determination of the energy spectra of small spin systems as for instance given by magnetic molecules is a demanding numerical problem. In this work we review numerical approaches to diagonalize the Heisenberg Hamiltonian that employ symmetries; in particular we focus on the spin-rotational symmetry SU(2) in combination with point-group symmetries. With these methods one is able to block-diagonalize the Hamiltonian and thus to treat spin systems of unprecedented size. In addition it provides a spectroscopic labeling by irreducible representations that is helpful when interpreting transitions induced by Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) or Inelastic Neutron Scattering (INS). It is our aim to provide the reader with detailed knowledge on how to set up such a diagonalization scheme.Comment: 29 pages, many figure

Critical Behavior of Anisotropic Heisenberg Mixed-Spin Chains in a Field

We numerically investigate the critical behavior of the spin-(1,1/2) Heisenberg ferrimagnet with anisotropic exchange coupling in a magnetic field. A quantized magnetization plateau as a function of the field, appearing at a third of the saturated magnetization, is stable over whole the antiferromagnetic coupling region. The plateau vanishes in the ferromagnetic coupling region via the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition. Comparing the quantum and classical magnetization curves, we elucidate what are essential quantum effects.Comment: 5 pages, Revtex, with 7 eps figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. B (An extra ps figure (fig7.ps) is included for printing.

Field-Induced Magnetic Ordering in the Quantum Spin System KCuCl3_3

KCuCl$_3$ is a three-dimensional coupled spin-dimer system and has a singlet ground state with an excitation gap ${\Delta}/k_{\rm B}=31$ K. High-field magnetization measurements for KCuCl$_3$ have been performed in static magnetic fields of up to 30 T and in pulsed magnetic fields of up to 60 T. The entire magnetization curve including the saturation region was obtained at $T=1.3$ K. From the analysis of the magnetization curve, it was found that the exchange parameters determined from the dispersion relations of the magnetic excitations should be reduced, which suggests the importance of the renormalization effect in the magnetic excitations. The field-induced magnetic ordering accompanied by the cusplike minimum of the magnetization was observed as in the isomorphous compound TlCuCl$_3$. The phase boundary was almost independent of the field direction, and is represented by the power law. These results are consistent with the magnon Bose-Einstein condensation picture for field-induced magnetic ordering.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, 9 eps files, revtex styl

Multi-plateau magnetization curves of one-dimensional Heisenberg ferrimagnets

Ground-state magnetization curves of ferrimagnetic Heisenberg chains of alternating spins $S$ and $s$ are numerically investigated. Calculating several cases of $(S,s)$, we conclude that the spin-$(S,s)$ chain generally exhibits $2s$ magnetization plateaux even at the most symmetric point. In the double- or more-plateau structure, the initial plateau is generated on a classical basis, whereas the higher ones are based on a quantum mechanism.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures embedded, to appear in Phys. Rev. B 01 August 200