784 research outputs found
A novel route to phase formation of cobalt oxyhydrates using KMnO4 as an oxidizing agent
We have first succeefully synthesized the sodium cobalt oxyhydrate
superconductors using KMnO4 as a de-intercalating and oxidizing agent. It is a
novel route to form the superconductive phase of NaxCoO2.yH2O without resorting
to the commonly used Br2/CH3CN solution. The role of the KMnO4 is to
de-intercalate the Na+ from the parent compound Na0.7CoO2 and oxidize the Co
ion as a result. The higher molar ratio of KMnO4 relative to the sodium content
tends to remove more Na+ from the parent compound and results in a slight
expansion of the c-axis in the unit cell. The superconducting transition
temperature is 4.6-3.8 K for samples treated by the aqueous KMnO4 solution with
the molar ratio of KMnO4 relative to the sodium content in the range of 0.3 and
2.29.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
Slow spin relaxation in a highly polarized cooperative paramagnet
We report measurements of the ac susceptibility of the cooperative paramagnet
Tb2Ti2O7 in a strong magnetic field. Our data show the expected saturation
maximum in chi(T) and also an unexpected low frequency dependence (< 1 Hz) of
this peak, suggesting very slow spin relaxations are occurring. Measurements on
samples diluted with nonmagnetic Y3+ or Lu3+ and complementary measurements on
pure and diluted Dy2Ti2O7 strongly suggest that the relaxation is associated
with dipolar spin correlations, representing unusual cooperative behavior in a
paramagnetic system.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter
Quantum and thermal spin relaxation in diluted spin ice: Dy(2-x)MxTi2O7 (M = Lu, Y)
We have studied the low temperature a.c. magnetic susceptibility of the
diluted spin ice compound Dy(2-x)MxTi2O7, where the magnetic Dy ions on the
frustrated pyrochlore lattice have been replaced with non-magnetic ions, M = Y
or Lu. We examine a broad range of dilutions, 0 <= x <= 1.98, and we find that
the T ~ 16 K freezing is suppressed for low levels of dilution but re-emerges
for x > 0.4 and persists to x = 1.98. This behavior can be understood as a
non-monotonic dependence of the quantum spin relaxation time with dilution. The
results suggest that the observed spin freezing is fundamentally a single spin
process which is affected by the local environment, rather than the development
of spin-spin correlations as earlier data suggested.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figure
Geometrical Magnetic Frustration in Rare Earth Chalcogenide Spinels
We have characterized the magnetic and structural properties of the CdLn2Se4
(Ln = Dy, Ho), and CdLn2S4 (Ln = Ho, Er, Tm, Yb) spinels. We observe all
compounds to be normal spinels, possessing a geometrically frustrated
sublattice of lanthanide atoms with no observable structural disorder. Fits to
the high temperature magnetic susceptibilities indicate these materials to have
effective antiferromagnetic interactions, with Curie-Weiss temperatures theta ~
-10 K, except CdYb2S4 for which theta ~ -40 K. The absence of magnetic long
range order or glassiness above T = 1.8 K strongly suggests that these
materials are a new venue in which to study the effects of strong geometrical
frustration, potentially as rich in new physical phenomena as that of the
pyrochlore oxides.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys Rev B; added acknowledgement
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