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We simultaneously measured the $^4$He($\gamma, n$)$^3$He and $^4$He($\gamma, p$)$^3$H reactions in the energy range around the giant dipole resonance. A quasi-monoenergetic photon beam produced via the laser Compton scattering technique was irradiated on the active-target time-projection chamber filled with helium gas, and trajectories of charged decay particles emitted from $^4$He were measured. Our data suggest that the $^4$He($\gamma, n$)$^3$He and $^4$He($\gamma, p$)$^3$H cross sections peak around 26 MeV. This result contradicts the previous experimental data reported by Shima et al. but is consistent with other experimental results., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures

The mutual coupling of spin and lattice degrees of freedom is ubiquitous in magnetic materials and potentially creates exotic magnetic states in response to the external magnetic field. Particularly, geometrically frustrated magnets serve as a fertile playground for realizing magnetic superstructure phases. Here, we observe an unconventional two-step magnetostructural transition prior to a half-magnetization plateau in a breathing pyrochlore chromium spinel by means of state-of-the-art magnetization and magnetostriction measurements in ultrahigh magnetic fields available up to 600 T. Considering a microscopic magnetoelastic theory, the intermediate-field phase can be assigned to a magnetic superstructure with a three-dimensional periodic array of 3-up-1-down and canted 2-up-2-down spin molecules. We attribute the emergence of the magnetic superstructure to a unique combination of the strong spin-lattice coupling and large breathing anisotropy., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, SI: 15 pages, 14 figures

Under magnetic fields, quantum magnets often undergo exotic phase transitions with various kinds of order. The discovery of a sequence of fractional magnetization plateaus in the Shastry-Sutherland compound SrCu2(BO3)2 has played a central role in the high-field research on quantum materials, but so far this system could only be probed up to half the saturation value of the magnetization. Here, we report the first experimental and theoretical investigation of this compound up to the saturation magnetic field of 140 T and beyond. Using ultrasound and magnetostriction techniques combined with extensive tensor-network calculations (iPEPS), several spin-supersolid phases are revealed between the 1/2 plateau and saturation (1/1 plateau). Quite remarkably, the sound velocity of the 1/2 plateau exhibits a drastic decrease of -50%, related to the tetragonal-to-orthorhombic instability of the checkerboard-type magnon crystal. The unveiled nature of this paradigmatic quantum system is a new milestone for exploring exotic quantum states of matter emerging in extreme conditions., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables

We have investigated the magnetic properties of Bi0.5Ca0.5MnO3 under ultrahigh magnetic fields by magnetization measurements. This compound shows the metamagnetic transition which indicates the magnetic field induced charge order melting at the room temperature T = 293 K. We reveled that the temperature dependence of the critical field, where the highest critical field is higher than 100 T. At low temperatures, it has been found that the metamagnetic transitions become broad and vanish in the field ascending process below 70 K. On the other hand, in the field descending process, a clear metamagnetic transition is observed even below 70 K. This unusual behavior can be understood as the gradual charge order melting by magnetic field, and its simultaneous reformation. A coexistence of multiple order parameters can account for the observed characteristic dynamics of the first order phase transition. Finally, we constructed the B-T phase diagram with the unusual critical feature at ultrahigh magnetic fields.

Quest for new states of matter near an ordered phase is a promising route for making modern physics forward. By probing thermal properties of a ferroelectric (FE) crystal Ba1-xSrxAl2O4, we have clarified that low-energy excitation of acoustic phonons is remarkably enhanced with critical behavior at the border of the FE phase. The phonon spectrum is significantly damped toward the FE phase boundary and transforms into glasslike phonon excitation which is reminiscent of a boson peak. This system thus links long-standing issues of amorphous solids and structural instability in crystals to pave the way to controlling lattice fluctuation as a new tuning parameter., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

Muon spin rotation and resonant soft X-ray scattering experiments on prototype multiferroics RMn2O5 (R = Y, Sm) are used to demonstrate that the local electric displacements are driven by the spin-current (SC) mechanism. Small local electric displacements were evaluated by observing spin polarization at ligand O ions, for which implanted muons served as an extremely sensitive probe. Our results for YMn2O5 provide evidence that the spin polarization of O ions forming a spin cycloid chain with Mn spins increases in proportion to the vector spin chirality (Si x Sj ) of the Mn ions. This relationship strongly indicates that the charge transfer between O and Mn ions is driven by the SC mechanism, which leads to the ferroelectricity accompanying O spin polarization.

Magnetic textures in the ferromagnetic phases of La$_{1-x}$Sr$_x$MnO$_3$ for 0.15 $< x <$ 0.30 have been investigated by Lorentz microscopy combined with small-angle electron diffraction experiments. Various types of magnetic textures characterized by stripe, plate-shaped, and cylindrical (magnetic bubble) domains were found. Two distinct types of magnetic stripe domains appeared in the orthorhombic structure with an inversion symmetry of La$_{0.825}$Sr$_{0.175}$MnO$_3$, depending significantly on magnetocrystalline anisotropy. Based on in-situ observations as functions of temperature and the strength of the external magnetic field, a magnetic field-temperature phase diagram was constructed, showing the stabilization of magnetic bubbles in the ferromagnetic phase of La$_{0.825}$Sr$_{0.175}$MnO$_3$.

We report formation of magnetic textures in the ferromagnetic (FM) phase of La$_{1-x}$Sr$_x$MnO$_3$ for $x =$ 0.125; these textures are magnetic bubbles, magnetic stripe domains, and forced FM states. In situ Lorentz microscopy (LM) observations show that magnetic bubbles exist in the FM insulating phase accompanying the formation of the charge$/$orbital ordering (CO$/$OO). Furthermore, stable magnetic bubbles still exist in an intermediate temperature region between the CO$/$OO ($T_{CO} =$ 155 K) and FM ($T_c =$ 190 K) transition temperatures. These magnetic bubbles are believed to originate from the magnetocrystalline anisotropy and the dipole-dipole interaction in the FM phase. Based on in situ LM observations as a function of both temperature and the strength of the external magnetic field applied, a magnetic field-temperature phase diagram is constructed, exhibiting the stabilizing regions of the magnetic bubbles in the FM phase of La$_{0.875}$Sr$_{0.125}$MnO$_{3}$.

We examined the formation mechanisms of magnetic bubbles in an M-type hexaferrite via Lorentz microscopy. When magnetic fields were perpendicularly applied to a thin sample of BaFe$_{12-x-0.05}$Sc$_x$Mg$_{0.05}$O$_{19}$ ($x = 1.6$), Bloch lines, which were identified as reversals of domain-wall chirality, appeared, and magnetic bubbles were formed when the magnetic stripes were pinched off at these Bloch lines. The number of Bloch lines increased with the amount of Sc in BaFe$_{12-x-0.05}$Sc$_x$Mg$_{0.05}$O$_{19}$ probably because of the reduction in magnetic anisotropy. A Lorentz microscopic observation revealed that Bloch lines with high magnetostatic energy may play an important role in the formation of magnetic bubbles.

Molecular based spin-1/2 triangular lattice systems such as LiZn$_2$Mo$_3$O$_8$ have attracted research interest. Distortions, defects, and intersite disorder are suppressed in such molecular-based magnets, and intrinsic geometrical frustration gives rise to unconventional and unexpected ground states. Li$_2$$A$Mo$_3$O$_8$ ($A$ = In or Sc) is such a compound where spin-1/2 Mo$_3$O$_{13}$ clusters in place of Mo ions form the uniform triangular lattice. Their ground states are different according to the $A$ site. Li$_2$InMo$_3$O$_8$ undergoes conventional $120^\circ$ long-range magnetic order below $T_\text{N}=12$~K whereas isomorphic Li$_2$ScMo$_3$O$_8$ exhibits no long-range magnetic order down to 0.5~K. Here, we report exotic magnetisms in Li$_2$InMo$_3$O$_8$ and Li$_2$ScMo$_3$O$_8$ investigated by muon spin rotation ($\mu$SR) and inelastic neutron scattering (INS) spectroscopies using polycrystalline samples. Li$_2$InMo$_3$O$_8$ and Li$_2$ScMo$_3$O$_8$ show completely different behaviors observed in both $\mu$SR and INS measurements, representing their different ground states. Li$_2$InMo$_3$O$_8$ exhibits spin wave excitation which is quantitatively described by the nearest neighbor anisotropic Heisenberg model based on the $120^\circ$ spin structure. In contrast, Li$_2$ScMo$_3$O$_8$ undergoes short-range magnetic order below 4~K with quantum-spin-liquid-like magnetic fluctuations down to the base temperature. Origin of the different ground states is discussed in terms of anisotropies of crystal structures and magnetic interactions., Comment: Sci. Rep. 9, 1826 (2019)

There has been growing interest in structural quantum phase transitions and quantum fluctuations of phonons in the research area of condensed matter physics. Here, we report the observation of glass-like features in the lattice heat capacity of a stuffed tridymite-type crystal, Ba1-xSrxAl2O4, a candidate compound of quantum paraelectrics. Substitutional chemical suppression of the ferroelectric phase transition temperature (TC) of Ba1-xSrxAl2O4 results in the disappearance of the TC at x=0.07. For the compositional window of x=0.2-0.5, the lattice heat capacity is enhanced below approximately 10 K and diverges from the T3-scaling law below 2.5 K. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiments on single crystals reveal the weakly correlated disorder in the crystal structure that survives down to low temperature; this disorder is responsible for the observed excess heat capacity. These features can be considered one of the manifestations of structural quantum fluctuations., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures

A new active target named MAIKo (Mu-PIC based Active target for Inverse Kinematics$_{\circ}$) has been developed at Kyoto University and Research Center for Nuclear Physics (RCNP), Osaka University. MAIKo is suited for missing-mass spectroscopy of unstable nuclei at forward scattering angles in inverse kinematics. MAIKo consists of a time projection chamber (TPC), which incorporates a micro-pixel chamber ($\mu$-PIC) as the electron multiplication and collection system. In MAIKo, the medium gas also plays the role of a reaction target, thus allowing detection of low-energy recoil particles with high position resolution. The MAIKo TPC was commissioned with He(93%)+iso-C$_{4}$H$_{10}$(7%) and He(93%)+CO$_{2}$(7%) mixture gasses at 430 hPa. The gas gain and the angular resolution of MAIKo were evaluated with an alpha source and a $^{4}$He beam at 56 MeV. The TPC was stably operated up to 1000-kcps beam intensity. A tracking algorithm using the Hough transform method has been developed to analyze scattering events. An angular resolution of 1.3$^{\circ}$ was achieved for scattered $^{4}$He particles., Comment: 13 pages, 17 figures

Synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD) experiments were performed on the network compounds Ba1-xSrxAl2O4 at temperatures between 15 and 800 K. The ferroelectric phase of the parent BaAl2O4 is largely suppressed by the Sr-substitution and disappears for $x\geq0.1$. Structural refinements reveal that the isotropic atomic displacement parameter ($B_{\rm iso}$) in the bridging oxygen atom for $x\geq0.05$ is largely independent of temperature and retains an anomalously large value in the adjacent paraelectric phase even at the lowest temperature. The $B_{\rm iso}$ systematically increases as $x$ increases, exhibiting an especially large value for $x\geq0.5$. According to previous electron diffraction experiments for Ba1-xSrxAl2O4 with $x\geq0.1$, strong thermal diffuse scattering occurs at two reciprocal points relating to two distinct soft modes at the M- and K-points over a wide range of temperatures below 800 K [Y. Ishii et al., Sci. Rep. 6, 19154 (2016)]. Although the latter mode disappears at approximately 200 K, the former does not condense, at least down to 100 K. On the contrary, it still survives at low-temperature. The anomalously large $B_{\rm iso}$ observed in this study is ascribed to these soft modes existing in a wide temperature range., Comment: 5 pages and 5 figures

We investigated the temperature dependence of the superlattice intensity and thermal diffuse scattering intensity of BaAl2O4, which has a network structure with corner-sharing AlO4 tetrahedra, via synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiments. The temperature variation of the superlattice intensity revealed that the structural phase transition occurs at TC = 451.4 K from the P6322 parent crystal structure to the low-temperature superstructure with a cell volume of 2a x 2b x c. BaAl2O4 exhibits an unconventional structural phase transition driven by two competing soft modes, q1/2 ~ (1/2, 1/2, 0) and q1/3 ~ (1/3, 1/3, 0). When approaching the TC from above, the soft mode with q1/3 appeared first and was followed by the q1/2 soft mode. The thermal diffuse scattering intensities from both soft modes increased sharply at TC; therefore, both modes condensed simultaneously. The first principles calculation revealed that structural instabilities exist at the M- and K-points, at which the calculated imaginary frequencies are similar. The small energy difference of these structural instabilities generates the two competing soft modes and determines the eventual low-temperature crystal structure., Comment: 5 pages and 4 figures

Pressure dependence of the conductivity and thermoelectric power is measured through the Mott transition in the layer organic conductor EtMe3P[Pd(dmit)2]2. The critical behavior of the thermoelectric effect provides a clear and objective determination of the Mott-Hubbard transition during the isothermal pressure sweep. Above the critical end point, the metal-insulator crossing, determined by the thermoelectric effect minimum value, is not found to coincide with the maximum of the derivative of the conductivity as a function of pressure. We show that the critical exponents of the Mott-Hubbard transition fall within the Ising universality class regardless of the dimensionality of the system.

A mechanism for fast magnetic reconnection in collisionless plasma is studied for understanding sawtooth collapse in tokamak discharges by using a two-fluid model for cold ions and electrons. Explosive growth of the tearing mode enabled by electron inertia is analytically estimated by using an energy principle with a nonlinear displacement map. Decrease of the potential energy in the nonlinear regime (where the island width exceeds the electron skin depth) is found to be steeper than in the linear regime, resulting in accelerated reconnection. Release of potential energy by such a fluid displacement leads to unsteady and strong convective flow, which is not damped by the small dissipation effects in high-temperature tokamak plasmas. Direct numerical simulation in slab geometry substantiates the theoretical prediction of the nonlinear growth., Comment: Accepted for publication in Nuclear Fusion

The degree of freedom of spin in quantum systems serves as an unparalleled laboratory where intriguing quantum physical properties can be observed, and the ability to control spin is a powerful tool in physics research. We propose a novel method for controlling spin in a system of rare isotopes which takes advantage of the mechanism of the projectile fragmentation reaction combined with the momentum-dispersion matching technique. The present method was verified in an experiment at the RIKEN RI Beam Factory, in which a degree of alignment of 8% was achieved for the spin of a rare isotope Al-32. The figure of merit for the present method was found to be greater than that of the conventional method by a factor of more than 50., Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures

A mechanism for fast magnetic reconnection in collisionless plasma is studied for understanding sawtooth collapse in tokamak discharges. Nonlinear growth of the tearing mode driven by electron inertia is analytically estimated by invoking the energy principle for the first time. Decrease of potential energy in the nonlinear regime (where the island width exceeds the electron skin depth) is found to be steeper than in the linear regime, resulting in acceleration of the reconnection. Release of free energy by such ideal fluid motion leads to unsteady and strong convective flow, which theoretically corroborates the inertia-driven collapse model of the sawtooth crash [D. Biskamp and J. F. Drake, Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 971 (1994)]., Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures; Proceedings of 24th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference (8-13 October 2012, San Diego, USA), TH/P3-09

Zero-field and longitudinal-field muon-spin-relaxation measurements have been performed in partially Fe-substituted La2-xSrxCu1-yFeyO4 in a wide range of hole concentration, to investigate the magnetic state induced by the Fe substitution recently suggested from the neutron-scattering measurements [Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 127002 (2011)]. It has been found that the magnetic transition temperature is notably enhanced through the 1% Fe substitution in a wide range of hole concentration where superconductivity appears in Fe-free La2-xSrxCuO4. In the underdoped regime, the Fe-induced magnetic order can be understood in terms of the concept of stripe pinning by Fe as in the case of the Zn-induced one in La2-xSrxCu1-yZnyO4. In the overdoped regime, on the other hand, the Fe-induced magnetic order is short-ranged, which is distinct from the stripes. It is plausible that a spin-glass state of Fe spins derived from the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interaction is realized in the overdoped regime, suggesting a change of the ground state from the strongly correlated state to the Fermi-liquid state with hole doping in La-214 high-Tc cuprates., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B

We study the elastic properties of thermotropic smectic liquid crystals with focal conic domains (FCDs). After the application of the controlled preshear at different temperatures, we independently measured the shear modulus G' and the FCD size L. We find out that these quantities are related by the scaling relation G' ~ \gamma_{eff}/L where \gamma_{eff} is the effective surface tension of the FCDs. The experimentally obtained value of \gamma_{\rm eff} shows the same scaling as the effective surface tension of the layered systems \sqrt{KB} where K and B are the bending modulus and the layer compression modulus, respectively. The similarity of this scaling relation to that of the surfactant onion phase suggests an universal rheological behavior of the layered systems with defects., Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in JPCM

We address the controversial hot question concerning the validity of the loose coupling versus the lever-arm theories in the actomyosin dynamics by re-interpreting and extending the phenomenological washboard potential model proposed by some of us in a previous paper. In this new model a Brownian motion harnessing thermal energy is assumed to co-exist with the deterministic swing of the lever-arm, to yield an excellent fit of the set of data obtained by some of us on the sliding of Myosin II heads on immobilized actin filaments under various load conditions. Our theoretical arguments are complemented by accurate numerical simulations, and the robustness of the model is tested via different choices of parameters and potential profiles., Comment: 6 figures, 8 tables, to appear on Biosystems