Search

We report a high-resolution resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering study of the quantum magnetic spin- chain materials Li2CuO2 and CuGeO3. By tuning the incoming photon energy to the oxygen K edge, a strong excitation around 3.5 eV energy loss is clearly resolved for both materials. Comparing the experimental data to many-body calculations, we identify this excitation as a Zhang-Rice singlet exciton on neighboring CuO4 plaquettes. We demonstrate that the strong temperature dependence of the inelastic scattering related to this high-energy exciton enables us to probe short-range spin correlations on the 1 meV scale with outstanding sensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) experiments performed at the oxygen K edge on the iridate perovskites Sr2 IrO4 and Sr3 Ir2 O7 reveal a sequence of well-defined dispersive modes over the energy range up to ~0.8 eV . The momentum dependence of these modes and their variation with the experimental geometry allows us to assign each of them to specific collective magnetic and/or electronic excitation processes, including single and bimagnons, and spin-orbit and electron-hole excitons. We thus demonstrate that dispersive magnetic and electronic excitations are observable at the O K edge in the presence of the strong spin-orbit coupling in the 5 d shell of iridium and strong hybridization between Ir 5 d and O 2 p orbitals, which confirm and expand theoretical expectations. More generally, our results establish the utility of O K-edge RIXS for studying the collective excitations in a range of 5 d materials that are attracting increasing attention due to their novel magnetic and electronic properties. Especially, the strong RIXS response at O K edge opens up the opportunity for investigating collective excitations in thin films and heterostructures fabricated from these materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skyrmions are nanometric spin whirls that can be stabilized in magnets lacking inversion symmetry. The properties of isolated Skyrmions embedded in a ferromagnetic background have been intensively studied. We show that single Skyrmions and clusters of Skyrmions can also form in the helical phase and investigate theoretically their energetics and dynamics. The helical background provides natural one-dimensional channels along which a Skyrmion can move rapidly. In contrast to Skyrmions in ferromagnets, the Skyrmion-Skyrmion interaction has a strong attractive component and thus Skyrmions tend to form clusters with characteristic shapes. These clusters are directly observed in transmission electron microscopy measurements in thin films of Cu2OSeO3. Topological quantization, high mobility, and the confinement of Skyrmions in channels provided by the helical background may be useful for future spintronics devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic properties of AMoOPO4Cl (A=K,Rb) with Mo5+ ions in the 4d¹ electronic configuration are investigated by magnetization, heat capacity, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements on single crystals, combined with powder neutron diffraction experiments. The magnetization measurements reveal that they are good model compounds for the spin-1/2J1-J2 square-lattice magnet with the first and second nearest-neighbor interactions. Magnetic transitions are observed at around 6 and 8 K in the K and Rb compounds, respectively. In contrast to the normal Néel-type antiferromagnetic order, the NMR and neutron diffraction experiments find a columnar antiferromagnetic order for each compound, which is stabilized by a dominant antiferromagnetic J2. Both compounds realize the unusual case of two interpenetrating J2 square lattices weakly coupled to each other by J1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum magnetic materials can provide explicit realizations of paradigm models in quantum many-body physics. In this context, SrCu_{2}(BO_{3})_{2} is a faithful realization of the Shastry-Sutherland model for ideally frustrated spin dimers, even displaying several of its quantum magnetic phases as a function of pressure. We perform inelastic neutron scattering measurements on SrCu_{2}(BO_{3})_{2} at 5.5 GPa and 4.5 K, observing spin waves that characterize the high-pressure antiferromagnetic phase. The experimental spectra are well described by linear spin-wave calculations on a Shastry-Sutherland model with an interlayer interaction, which is determined accurately as J_{c}=0.053(3)  meV. The presence of J_{c} indicates the need to account for the three-dimensional nature of SrCu_{2}(BO_{3})_{2} in theoretical models, also at lower pressures. We find that the ratio between in-plane interactions, J^{'}/J=1.8(2), undergoes a dramatic change compared to lower pressures that we deduce is driven by a sharp drop in the dimer coupling, J. Our results underline the wide horizons opened by high-pressure inelastic neutron scattering experiments on quantum magnetic materials.

Quantum spin liquids are exotic states of matter that form when strongly frustrated magnetic interactions induce a highly entangled quantum paramagnet far below the energy scale of the magnetic interactions. Three-dimensional cases are especially challenging due to the significant reduction of the influence of quantum fluctuations. Here, we report the magnetic characterization of K_{2}Ni_{2}(SO_{4})_{3} forming a three-dimensional network of Ni^{2+} spins. Using density functional theory calculations, we show that this network consists of two interconnected spin-1 trillium lattices. In the absence of a magnetic field, magnetization, specific heat, neutron scattering, and muon spin relaxation experiments demonstrate a highly correlated and dynamic state, coexisting with a peculiar, very small static component exhibiting a strongly renormalized moment. A magnetic field B≳4  T diminishes the ordered component and drives the system into a pure quantum spin liquid state. This shows that a system of interconnected S=1 trillium lattices exhibits a significantly elevated level of geometrical frustration.

Paramagnetic correlations in the magnetic material Yb(2)Ti(2)O(7) have been investigated via neutron scattering, revealing a [111] rod of scattering intensity. Assuming interactions between the Yb(3+) ions composed of all symmetry-allowed nearest neighbor exchange interactions and long-range dipolar interactions, we construct a model Hamiltonian that allows for an excellent description of the neutron scattering data. Our results provide compelling evidence for significant anisotropic exchange interactions in an insulating magnetic pyrochlore oxide. We also compute the real space correlations leading to the [111] rod of scattering.