Thermal Control of Spin Excitations in the Coupled Ising-Chain Material RbCoCl_{3}.

We have used neutron spectroscopy to investigate the spin dynamics of the quantum (S=1/2) antiferromagnetic Ising chains in RbCoCl_{3}. The structure and magnetic interactions in this material conspire to produce two magnetic phase transitions at low temperatures, presenting an ideal opportunity for thermal control of the chain environment. The high-resolution spectra we measure of two-domain-wall excitations therefore characterize precisely both the continuum response of isolated chains and the "Zeeman-ladder" bound states of chains in three different effective staggered fields in one and the same material. We apply an extended Matsubara formalism to obtain a quantitative description of the entire dataset, Monte Carlo simulations to interpret the magnetic order, and finite-temperature density-matrix renormalization-group calculations to fit the spectral features of all three phases.

Bound States and Field-Polarized Haldane Modes in a Quantum Spin Ladder.

The challenge of one-dimensional systems is to understand their physics beyond the level of known elementary excitations. By high-resolution neutron spectroscopy in a quantum spin-ladder material, we probe the leading multiparticle excitation by characterizing the two-magnon bound state at zero field. By applying high magnetic fields, we create and select the singlet (longitudinal) and triplet (transverse) excitations of the fully spin-polarized ladder, which have not been observed previously and are close analogs of the modes anticipated in a polarized Haldane chain. Theoretical modeling of the dynamical response demonstrates our complete quantitative understanding of these states.

Field-tunable spin-density-wave phases in Sr3Ru2O7.

The conduction electrons in a metal experience competing interactions with each other and the atomic nuclei. This competition can lead to many types of magnetic order in metals. For example, in chromium the electrons order to form a spin-density-wave (SDW) antiferromagnetic state. A magnetic field may be used to perturb or tune materials with delicately balanced electronic interactions. Here, we show that the application of a magnetic field can induce SDW magnetic order in a quasi-2D metamagnetic metal, where none exists in the absence of the field. We use magnetic neutron scattering to show that the application of a large (B ≈ 8 T) magnetic field to the perovskite metal Sr3Ru2O7 (refs 3-7) can be used to tune the material through two magnetically ordered SDW states. The ordered states exist over relatively small ranges in field (≲0.4 T), suggesting that their origin is due to a new mechanism related to the electronic fine structure near the Fermi energy, possibly combined with the stabilizing effect of magnetic fluctuations. The magnetic field direction is shown to control the SDW domain populations, which naturally explains the strong resistivity anisotropy or 'electronic nematic' behaviour observed in this material.

Emergent Interacting Spin Islands in a Depleted Strong-Leg Heisenberg Ladder.

Properties of the depleted Heisenberg spin ladder material series (C_{7}H_{10}N)_{2}Cu_{1-z}Zn_{z}Br_{4} have been studied by the combination of magnetic measurements and neutron spectroscopy. Disorder-induced degrees of freedom lead to a specific magnetic response, described in terms of emergent strongly interacting "spin island" objects. The structure and dynamics of the spin islands is studied by high-resolution inelastic neutron scattering. This allows us to determine their spatial shape and to observe their mutual interactions, manifested by strong spectral in-gap contributions.

Topological Magnon Bands in a Kagome Lattice Ferromagnet.

There is great interest in finding materials possessing quasiparticles with topological properties. Such materials may have novel excitations that exist on their boundaries which are protected against disorder. We report experimental evidence that magnons in an insulating kagome ferromagnet can have a topological band structure. Our neutron scattering measurements further reveal that one of the bands is flat due to the unique geometry of the kagome lattice. Spin wave calculations show that the measured band structure follows from a simple Heisenberg Hamiltonian with a Dzyaloshinkii-Moriya interaction. This serves as the first realization of an effectively two-dimensional topological magnon insulator--a new class of magnetic material that should display both a magnon Hall effect and protected chiral edge modes.

Unconventional superconductivity in Ba(0.6)K(0.4)Fe2As2 from inelastic neutron scattering.

A new family of superconductors containing layers of iron arsenide has attracted considerable interest because of their high transition temperatures (T(c)), some of which are >50 K, and because of similarities with the high-T(c) copper oxide superconductors. In both the iron arsenides and the copper oxides, superconductivity arises when an antiferromagnetically ordered phase has been suppressed by chemical doping. A universal feature of the copper oxide superconductors is the existence of a resonant magnetic excitation, localized in both energy and wavevector, within the superconducting phase. This resonance, which has also been observed in several heavy-fermion superconductors, is predicted to occur when the sign of the superconducting energy gap takes opposite values on different parts of the Fermi surface, an unusual gap symmetry which implies that the electron pairing interaction is repulsive at short range. Angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy shows no evidence of gap anisotropy in the iron arsenides, but such measurements are insensitive to the phase of the gap on separate parts of the Fermi surface. Here we report inelastic neutron scattering observations of a magnetic resonance below T(c) in Ba(0.6)K(0.4)Fe(2)As(2), a phase-sensitive measurement demonstrating that the superconducting energy gap has unconventional symmetry in the iron arsenide superconductors.

Spectrum of a magnetized strong-leg quantum spin ladder.

Inelastic neutron scattering is used to measure the spin excitation spectrum of the Heisenberg S=1/2 ladder material (C7H10N)2CuBr4 in its entirety, both in the gapped spin liquid and the magnetic field-induced Tomonaga-Luttinger spin liquid regimes. A fundamental change of the spin dynamics is observed between these two regimes. Density matrix renormalization group calculations quantitatively reproduce and help understand the observed commensurate and incommensurate excitations. The results validate long-standing quantum field-theoretical predictions but also test the limits of that approach.

Emergence of highly degenerate excited states in the frustrated magnet MgCr2O4.

High degeneracy in ground states leads to the generation of exotic zero-energy modes, a representative example of which is the formation of molecular spin-liquid-like fluctuations in a frustrated magnet. Here we present single-crystal inelastic neutron scattering results for the frustrated magnet MgCr(2)O(4), which show that a common set of finite-energy molecular spin excitation modes is sustained in both the liquid-like phase above magnetic ordering temperature T(N) and an ordered phase with an extremely complex magnetic structure below T(N). Based on this finding, we propose the concept of high degeneracy in excited states, which promotes local resonant elementary excitations. This concept is expected to have ramifications on our understanding of excitations in many complex systems, including not only spin but also atomic liquids, complex order systems, and amorphous systems.

Topological magnon band structure of emergent Landau levels in a skyrmion lattice.

The motion of a spin excitation across topologically nontrivial magnetic order exhibits a deflection that is analogous to the effect of the Lorentz force on an electrically charged particle in an orbital magnetic field. We used polarized inelastic neutron scattering to investigate the propagation of magnons (i.e., bosonic collective spin excitations) in a lattice of skyrmion tubes in manganese silicide. For wave vectors perpendicular to the skyrmion tubes, the magnon spectra are consistent with the formation of finely spaced emergent Landau levels that are characteristic of the fictitious magnetic field used to account for the nontrivial topological winding of the skyrmion lattice. This provides evidence of a topological magnon band structure in reciprocal space, which is borne out of the nontrivial real-space topology of a magnetic order.

Effect of Fermi surface nesting on resonant spin excitations in Ba(1-x)K(x)Fe2As2.

We report inelastic neutron scattering measurements of the resonant spin excitations in Ba(1-x)K(x)Fe(2)As(2) over a broad range of electron band filling. The fall in the superconducting transition temperature with hole doping coincides with the magnetic excitations splitting into two incommensurate peaks because of the growing mismatch in the hole and electron Fermi surface volumes, as confirmed by a tight-binding model with s(±)-symmetry pairing. The reduction in Fermi surface nesting is accompanied by a collapse of the resonance binding energy and its spectral weight, caused by the weakening of electron-electron correlations.

Magnetic-field-controlled spin fluctuations and quantum critically in Sr3Ru2O7.

When the transition temperature of a continuous phase transition is tuned to absolute zero, new ordered phases and physical behaviour emerge in the vicinity of the resulting quantum critical point. Sr3Ru2O7 can be tuned through quantum criticality with magnetic field at low temperature. Near its critical field Bc it displays the hallmark T-linear resistivity and a [Formula: see text] electronic heat capacity behaviour of strange metals. However, these behaviours have not been related to any critical fluctuations. Here we use inelastic neutron scattering to reveal the presence of collective spin fluctuations whose relaxation time and strength show a nearly singular variation with magnetic field as Bc is approached. The large increase in the electronic heat capacity and entropy near Bc can be understood quantitatively in terms of the scattering of conduction electrons by these spin-fluctuations. On entering the spin-density-wave ordered phase present near Bc, the fluctuations become stronger suggesting that the order is stabilised through an "order-by-disorder" mechanism.

High energy excitations measured by neutron spectroscopy in FePS(3).

The quasi-two-dimensional antiferromagnet FePS(3) has been investigated using inelastic neutron spectroscopy with the time-of-flight spectrometer HET at the ISIS spallation neutron source. In the paramagnetic regime, two clearly resolved, high energy excitations were observed in the low scattering angle detector banks at 195(5) meV and 430(10) meV. The absence of these transitions from the high angle detector banks indicates that they are likely to be due to the crystal fields and magnetic in origin. The two transitions most probably represent electronic transitions in the Fe(2+) ion among the low lying crystal field and spin-orbit split levels raised from the ground state. It has not yet been determined why the energies are greater than those observed in a comparable Raman experiment.

FARO: A new type of neutron spectrometer with flux and resolution optimized.

A new type of high intensity and high resolution time-of-flight near backscattering neutron spectrometer is presented which is capable of an energy resolution of 4.0 µeV with a data collection rate an order of magnitude larger than current near backscattering spectrometers capable of this resolution. This design challenges two accepted norms of high resolution indirect neutron spectrometers: it uses large mosaic pyrolytic graphite (002) crystals instead of nearly perfect silicon (111) crystals to select the final neutron energy, and it operates well away from the normal backscattering condition 2φ ≈ 180° instead using 2φ = 160°. This paper describes the methodology behind this spectrometer along with ray-tracing simulations of the instrument using the McStas program.

Upgrade to the MAPS neutron time-of-flight chopper spectrometer.

The MAPS direct geometry time-of-flight chopper spectrometer at the ISIS pulsed neutron and muon source has been in operation since 1999, and its novel use of a large array of position-sensitive neutron detectors paved the way for a later generations of chopper spectrometers around the world. Almost two decades of experience of user operations on MAPS, together with lessons learned from the operation of new generation instruments, led to a decision to perform three parallel upgrades to the instrument. These were to replace the primary beamline collimation with supermirror neutron guides, to install a disk chopper, and to modify the geometry of the poisoning in the water moderator viewed by MAPS. Together, these upgrades were expected to increase the neutron flux substantially, to allow more flexible use of repetition rate multiplication and to reduce some sources of background. Here, we report the details of these upgrades and compare the performance of the instrument before and after their installation as well as to Monte Carlo simulations. These illustrate that the instrument is performing in line with, and in some respects in excess of, expectations. It is anticipated that the improvement in performance will have a significant impact on the capabilities of the instrument. A few examples of scientific commissioning are presented to illustrate some of the possibilities.

New sources and instrumentation for neutrons in biology.

Neutron radiation offers significant advantages for the study of biological molecular structure and dynamics. A broad and significant effort towards instrumental and methodological development to facilitate biology experiments at neutron sources worldwide is reviewed.

The implications of integrated assessment and modelling studies for the future remediation of chromite ore processing residue disposal sites.

Chromite ore processing residue (COPR) waste from a former chromium chemical works (1830-1968) is still contaminating groundwater in Glasgow, Scotland, with carcinogenic hexavalent chromium, Cr(VI). An integrated analytical, experimental and modelling approach has identified and accounted for mineral phases and processes responsible for the retention and release of Cr(VI) under prevailing field conditions. Both the nature of mineral phase retention and the buffered high pH of the sites, however, militate against direct remediative treatment of the source material, for example by the application of generic methods (e.g. FeSO4) that have been successfully employed elsewhere for the reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III) in other matrices. The interception and treatment of groundwater to remove Cr(VI) and the capping of sites to reduce human exposure to airborne Cr(VI)-contaminated dust may well be more realistic and effective, at least in the short to medium term.

The magnon dynamics and spin exchange parameters of FePS3.

The spin waves in a powdered sample of a quasi-two-dimensional antiferromagnet, FePS(3), have been measured using neutron inelastic scattering. The data could be modelled and the exchange interactions determined using a two-dimensional Heisenberg Hamiltonian with single ion anisotropy. A suitable fit to the data could only be achieved by including magnetic interactions up to the third nearest neighbour, which is consistent with the findings for other members of the MPS(3) family (M=transition metal). The best fit parameters at 6 K were J(1) = 1.49 meV, J(2) = 0.04 meV, J(3) =- 0.6 meV, with an anisotropy of Δ = 3.7 meV. Measurements as a function of temperature give a coarse measure of the behaviour of the anisotropy and the nature of the phase transition.

Dispersive crystal field excitations and quadrupolar interactions in UPd3.

We report inelastic neutron scattering measurements and random phase approximation calculations of the dispersive crystal field excitations of UPd(3). The measured spectra at lower energies agree with those calculated using quadrupolar interaction parameters deduced from bulk and x-ray scattering measurements. The more intense excitations arising from the hexagonal sites were used to obtain exchange parameters which proved to be anisotropic.

Magnetic excitations in EuCu2(Si(x)Ge(1-x))2: from mixed valence towards magnetism.

We report the inelastic neutron scattering study of spin dynamics in EuCu(2)(Si(x)Ge(1-x))(2) (x = 1, 0.9, 0.75, 0.6), performed in a wide temperature range. At x = 1 the magnetic excitation spectrum was found to be represented by the double-peak structure well below the energy range of the Eu(3+) spin-orbit (SO) excitation (7)F(0)→(7)F(1), so that at least the high-energy spectral component can be assigned to the renormalized SO transition. Change of the Eu valence towards 2 + with increased temperature and/or Ge concentration results in further renormalization (lowering the energy) and gradual suppression of both inelastic peaks in the spectrum, along with developing sizeable quasielastic signal. The origin of the spectral structure and its evolution is discussed in terms of excitonic model for the mixed valence state.

Crystalline electric field as a probe for long-range antiferromagnetic order and superconducting state of CeFeAsO(1-x)F(x).

We use inelastic neutron scattering to study the crystalline electric field (CEF) excitations of Ce3+ in CeFeAsO(1-x)F(x) (x=0, 0.16). For nonsuperconducting CeFeAsO, the Ce CEF levels have three magnetic doublets in the paramagnetic state, but these doublets split into six singlets when the Fe ions order antiferromagnetically. For superconducting CeFeAsO0.84F0.16 T(c)=41 K), where the static antiferromagnetic order is suppressed, the Ce CEF levels have three magnetic doublets at [formula: see text], 18.7, 58.4 meV at all temperatures. Careful measurements of the intrinsic linewidth Gamma and the peak position of the 18.7 meV mode reveal a clear anomaly at T(c), consistent with a strong enhancement of local magnetic susceptibility chi'' [formula: see text] below T(c). These results suggest that CEF excitations in the rare-earth oxypnictides can be used as a probe of spin dynamics in the nearby FeAs planes.