169 research outputs found
Colossal magnetostriction and negative thermal expansion in the frustrated antiferromagnet ZnCr2Se4
A detailed investigation of ZnCr2Se4 is presented which is dominated by
strong ferromagnetic exchange but orders antiferromagnetically at T_N = 21 K.
Specific heat C and thermal expansion Delta L/L exhibit sharp first-order
anomalies at the antiferromagnetic transition. T_N is strongly reduced and
shifted to lower temperatures by external magnetic fields and finally is fully
suppressed suggesting a field induced quantum critical behavior close to 60
kOe. Delta L/L(T) is unusually large and exhibits negative thermal expansion
below 75 K down to T_N indicating strong frustration of the lattice.
Magnetostriction Delta L/L(H) reveals colossal values (0.5x10^{-3}) comparable
to giant magnetostriction materials. Electron-spin resonance, however, shows
negligible spin-orbital coupling excluding orbitally induced Jahn-Teller
distortions. The obtained results point to a spin-driven origin of the
structural instability at T_N explained in terms of competing ferromagnetic and
antiferromagnetic exchange interactions yielding strong bond frustration.Comment: 5 pages 4 figure
Spin-driven Phonon Splitting in Bond-frustrated ZnCr2S4
Utilizing magnetic susceptibility, specific heat, thermal expansion and IR
spectroscopy we provide experimental evidence that the two subsequent
antiferromagnetic transitions in ZnCr_2S_4 at T_N1 = 15 K and T_N2= 8 K are
accompanied by significant thermal and phonon anomalies. The anomaly at T_N2
reveals a strong temperature hysteresis typical for a first-order
transformation. Due to strong spin-phonon coupling both magnetic phase
transitions induce a splitting of phonon modes, where at T_N1 the
high-frequency and at T_N2 the low-frequency modes split. The anomalies and
phonon splitting observed at T_N2 are strongly suppressed by magnetic field.
Regarding the small positive Curie-Weiss temperature Theta= 8 K, we argue that
this scenario of two different magnetic phases with concomitant different
magneto-elastic couplings results from the strong competition of ferromagnetic
and antiferromagnetic exchange of equal strength.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Spin-driven Phase Transitions in ZnCrSe and ZnCrS Probed by High Resolution Synchrotron X-ray and Neutron Powder Diffraction
The crystal and magnetic structures of the spinel compounds ZnCrS and
ZnCrSe were investigated by high resolution powder synchrotron and
neutron diffraction. ZnCrSe exhibits a first order phase transition at
K into an incommensurate helical magnetic structure. Magnetic
fluctuations above are coupled to the crystal lattice as manifested by
negative thermal expansion. Both, the complex magnetic structure and the
anomalous structural behavior can be related to magnetic frustration.
Application of an external magnetic field shifts the ordering temperature and
the regime of negative thermal expansion towards lower temperatures. Thereby,
the spin ordering changes into a conical structure. ZnCrS shows two
magnetic transitions at K and K that are accompanied by
structural phase transitions. The crystal structure transforms from the cubic
spinel-type (space group \={3}) at high temperatures in the paramagnetic
state, via a tetragonally distorted intermediate phase (space group /
) for into a low temperature orthorhombic phase
(space group ) for . The cooperative displacement of
sulfur ions by exchange striction is the origin of these structural phase
transitions. The low temperature structure of ZnCrS is identical to the
orthorhombic structure of magnetite below the Verwey transition. When applying
a magnetic field of 5 T the system shows an induced negative thermal expansion
in the intermediate magnetic phase as observed in ZnCrSe.Comment: 11 pages, 13 figures, to be published in PR
Spin Driven Jahn-Teller Distortion in a Pyrochlore system
The ground-state properties of the spin-1 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model
on the corner-sharing tetrahedra, pyrochlore lattice, is investigated. By
breaking up each spin into a pair of 1/2-spins, the problem is reduced to the
equivalent one of the spin-1/2 tetrahedral network in analogy with the valence
bond solid state in one dimension. The twofold degeneracy of the spin-singlets
of a tetrahedron is lifted by a Jahn-Teller mechanism, leading to a cubic to
tetragonal structural transition. It is proposed that the present mechanism is
responsible for the phase transition observed in the spin-1 spinel compounds
ZnVO and MgVO.Comment: 4 pages, 3 eps figures, REVTeX, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Magnetic properties of the frustrated AFM spinel ZnCr_2O_4 and the spin-glass Zn_{1-x}Cd_xCr_2O_4 (x=0.05,0.10)
The -dependence (2- 400 K) of the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR),
magnetic susceptibility, , and specific heat, , of the
antiferromagnetic (AFM) spinel ZnCrO and the spin-glass
(SG) ZnCdCrO () is reported. These
systems behave as a strongly frustrated AFM and SG with K and -400 K K. At high-
the EPR intensity follows the and the -value is -independent.
The linewidth broadens as the temperature is lowered, suggesting the existence
of short range AFM correlations in the paramagnetic phase. For
ZnCrO the EPR intensity and decreases below 90 K and 50
K, respectively. These results are discussed in terms of nearest-neighbor
Cr (S %) spin-coupled pairs with an exchange coupling of 50 K. The appearance of small resonance modes for K,
the observation of a sharp drop in and a strong peak in
at K confirms, as previously reported, the existence of long range
AFM correlations in the low- phase. A comparison with recent neutron
diffraction experiments that found a near dispersionless excitation at 4.5 meV
for and a continuous gapless spectrum for ,
is also given.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, 1 Table. Submitted to Physical Review
Expression of the 60 kDa and 71 kDa heat shock proteins and presence of antibodies against the 71 kDa heat shock protein in pediatric patients with immune thrombocytopenic purpura
BACKGROUND: Immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is an autoimmune disease characterized by platelet destruction resulting from autoantibodies against platelet proteins, particularly platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa. Heat shock proteins (Hsp) have been shown to be major antigenic determinants in some autoimmune diseases. Antibodies to Hsps have also been reported to be associated with a number of pathological states. METHODS: Using western blot, we measured the levels of the 60 kDa heat shock protein (Hsp60) and of the inducible 71 kDa member of the Hsp70 family (Hsp71) in lymphocytes and the presence of antibodies against these hsps in plasma of 29 pediatric patients with ITP before the treatment and in 6 other patients before and after treatment. RESULTS: Interestingly only one out of 29 patients showed detectable Hsp60 in lymphocytes while this heat shock protein was detected in the 30 control children. Hsp71 levels were slightly lower in lymphocytes of patients with ITP than in controls (1567.8 ± 753.2 via 1763.2 ± 641.8 integrated optical density (IOD) units). There was a small increase of Hsp71 after recovery from ITP. The titers of plasma antibodies against Hsp60 and Hsp71 were also examined. Antibodies against Hsp71 were more common in ITP patients (15/29) than in control children (5/30). The titer of anti-Hsp71 was also higher in children patients with ITP. The prevalence of ITP children with antibodies against Hsp71 (51.7%) was as high as those with antibodies against platelet membrane glycoproteins (58.3%). CONCLUSIONS: In summary, pediatric patients with ITP showed no detectable expression of Hsp60 in lymphocytes and a high prevalence of antibody against Hsp71 in plasma. These changes add to our understanding of the pathogenesis of ITP and may be important for the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of ITP
Plasma antibodies against heat shock protein 70 correlate with the incidence and severity of asthma in a Chinese population
BACKGROUND: The heat shock proteins (Hsps) are induced by stresses such as allergic factors and inflammatory responses in bronchi epithelial cells and therefore may be detectable in patients with asthma. However, the etiologic link between anti-Hsps and asthma (its severity and related inflammatory responses such as interleukin-4 and immunoglobulin E) has not been established. We determined whether antibodies against Hsp60 and Hsp70 were present in patients with asthma and evaluated their associations with risk and severity of asthma. METHODS: We determined the levels of anti-Hsp60 and anti-Hsp70 by immunoblot and their associations with risk and symptom severity of asthma in 95 patients with asthma and 99 matched non-symptomatic controls using multivariate logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Compared to the controls, asthma patients were more likely to have detectable anti-Hsp60 (17.2% vs 5.1%) and anti-Hsp70 (33.7% vs 8.1%) (p ≤ 0.001). In particular, the presence of anti-Hsp70 was associated with a greater than 2 fold risk for asthma (adjusted OR = 2.21; 95% CI = 1.35~3.59). Furthermore, both anti-Hsp60 and anti-Hsp70 levels were positively correlated with symptom severity (p < 0.05) as well as interleukin-4 and immunoglobulin E (p < 0.05). Individuals with antibodies against anti-Hsp60 and anti-Hsp70 were more likely to have a family history of asthma (p < 0.001) and higher plasma concentrations of total immunoglobulin E (p = 0.001) and interleukin-4 (p < 0.05) than those without antibodies. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that anti-Hsp60 and especially anti-Hsp70 correlate with the attacks and severity of asthma. The underlying molecular mechanisms linking antibodies to heat shock proteins and asthma remain to be investigated
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