Commensurate-Incommensurate Magnetic Phase Transition in Magnetoelectric Single Crystal LiNiPO4_4

Neutron scattering studies of single-crystal LiNiPO$_4$ reveal a spontaneous first-order commensurate-incommensurate magnetic phase transition. Short- and long-range incommensurate phases are intermediate between the high temperature paramagnetic and the low temperature antiferromagnetic phases. The modulated structure has a predominant antiferromagnetic component, giving rise to satellite peaks in the vicinity of the fundamental antiferromagnetic Bragg reflection, and a ferromagnetic component giving rise to peaks at small momentum-transfers around the origin at $(0,\pm Q,0)$. The wavelength of the modulated magnetic structure varies continuously with temperature. It is argued that the incommensurate short- and long-range phases are due to spin-dimensionality crossover from a continuous to the discrete Ising state. These observations explain the anomalous first-order transition seen in the magnetoelectric effect of this system

Radiation induced zero-resistance states: a dressed electronic structure effect

Recent results on magnetoresistance in a two dimensional electron gas under crossed magnetic and microwave fields show a new class of oscillations, suggesting a new kind of zero-resistance states. A complete understanding of the effect is still lacking. We consider the problem from the point of view of the electronic structure dressed by photons due to a in plane linearly polarized ac field. The dramatic changes in the dressed electronic structure lead to a interpretation of the new magnetoresistance oscillations as a persistent-current like effect, induced by the radiation field.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, revtex4, changes in introduction and added reference

Excitations in the quantum paramagnetic phase of the quasi-one-dimensional Ising magnet CoNb2_2O6_6 in a transverse field: Geometric frustration and quantum renormalization effects

The quasi-one-dimensional (1D) Ising ferromagnet CoNb$_2$O$_6$ has recently been driven via applied transverse magnetic fields through a continuous quantum phase transition from spontaneous magnetic order to a quantum paramagnet, and dramatic changes were observed in the spin dynamics, characteristic of weakly perturbed 1D Ising quantum criticality. We report here extensive single-crystal inelastic neutron scattering measurements of the magnetic excitations throughout the three-dimensional (3D) Brillouin zone in the quantum paramagnetic phase just above the critical field to characterize the effects of the finite interchain couplings. In this phase, we observe that excitations have a sharp, resolution-limited line shape at low energies and over most of the dispersion bandwidth, as expected for spin-flip quasiparticles. We map the full bandwidth along the strongly dispersive chain direction and resolve clear modulations of the dispersions in the plane normal to the chains, characteristic of frustrated interchain couplings in an antiferromagnetic isosceles triangular lattice. The dispersions can be well parametrized using a linear spin-wave model that includes interchain couplings and further neighbor exchanges. The observed dispersion bandwidth along the chain direction is smaller than that predicted by a linear spin-wave model using exchange values determined at zero field, and this effect is attributed to quantum renormalization of the dispersion beyond the spin-wave approximation in fields slightly above the critical field, where quantum fluctuations are still significant.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures. Updated references. Minor changes to text and figure

Coasting cosmologies with time dependent cosmological constant

The effect of a time dependent cosmological constant is considered in a family of scalar tensor theories. Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmological models for vacumm and perfect fluid matter are found. They have a linear expansion factor, the so called coasting cosmology, the gravitational "constant" decreace inversely with time; this model satisfy the Dirac hipotesis. The cosmological "constant" decreace inversely with the square of time, therefore we can have a very small value for it at present time.Comment: 7 pages, latex file (ijmpal macro), accepted for publication in Int. Mod. Phys.