Dielectric Relaxation by Quantum Critical Magnons.

We report the experimental observation of dielectric relaxation by quantum critical magnons. Complex capacitance measurements reveal a dissipative feature with a temperature-dependent amplitude due to low-energy lattice excitations and an activation behavior of the relaxation time. The activation energy softens close to a field-tuned magnetic quantum critical point at H=H_{c} and follows single-magnon energy for H>H_{c}, showing its magnetic origin. Our study demonstrates the electrical activity of coupled low-energy spin and lattice excitations, an example of quantum multiferroic behavior.

Spin Density Wave versus Fractional Magnetization Plateau in a Triangular Antiferromagnet.

We report an excellent realization of the highly nonclassical incommensurate spin-density wave (SDW) state in the quantum frustrated antiferromagnetic insulator Cs_{2}CoBr_{4}. In contrast to the well-known Ising spin chain case, here the SDW is stabilized by virtue of competing planar in-chain anisotropies and frustrated interchain exchange. Adjacent to the SDW phase is a broad m=1/3 magnetization plateau that can be seen as a commensurate locking of the SDW state into the up-up-down (UUD) spin structure. This represents the first example of the long-sought SDW-UUD transition in triangular-type quantum magnets.

LT Scaling in Depleted Quantum Spin Ladders.

Using a combination of neutron scattering, calorimetry, quantum Monte Carlo simulations, and analytic results we uncover confinement effects in depleted, partially magnetized quantum spin ladders. We show that introducing nonmagnetic impurities into magnetized spin ladders leads to the emergence of a new characteristic length L in the otherwise scale-free Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (serving as the effective low-energy model). This results in universal LT scaling of staggered susceptibilities. Comparison of simulation results with experimental phase diagrams of prototypical spin ladder compounds bis(2,3-dimethylpyridinium)tetrabromocuprate(II) (DIMPY) and bis(piperidinium)tetrabromocuprate(II) (BPCB) yields excellent agreement.

Magnetic structure and spin waves in the frustrated ferro-antiferromagnet Pb2VO(PO4)2.

Single crystal neutron diffraction, inelastic neutron scattering, and electron spin resonance experiments are used to study the magnetic structure and spin waves in Pb2VO(PO4)2, a prototypical layered S = 1/2 ferromagnet with frustrating next-nearest neighbor antiferromagnetic interactions. The observed excitation spectrum is found to be inconsistent with a simple square lattice model previously proposed for this material. At least four distinct exchange coupling constants are required to reproduce the measured spin wave dispersion. The degree of magnetic frustration is correspondingly revised and found to be substantially smaller than in all previous estimates.

Phase transition of chemically doped uniaxial relaxor ferroelectric.

We report a neutron scattering study of the ferroelectric phase transition in Sr0.585Ce0.025Ba0.39Nb2O6 (SBN-61:Ce). We find no evidence for a soft transverse optic phonon. We do, however, observe anisotropic diffuse scattering. This scattering has inelastic and elastic contributions. In the paraelectric phase the susceptibility associated with the elastic diffuse scattering from SBN-61:Ce increases on approaching the transition temperature. In the ferroelectric phase the lineshape of the elastic scattering is consistent with the form expected for the ferroelectric domain walls. In contrast to the macroscopic observations, the scattering properties of Ce-doped crystal do not exhibit important changes with respect to those of pure Sr0.61Ba0.39Nb2O6.

Phase transition of the uniaxial disordered ferroelectric Sr(0.61)Ba(0.39)Nb(2)O(6).

We report a neutron scattering study of a ferroelectric phase transition in Sr0.61Ba0.39Nb2O6 (SBN-61). The ferroelectric polarization is along the crystallographic c-axis but the transverse acoustic branch propagating along the 〈1, 1, 0〉 direction does not show any anomaly associated with this transition. We find no evidence for a soft transverse optic phonon. We do, however, observe elastic diffuse scattering. The intensity of this scattering increases as the sample is cooled from a temperature well above the phase transition. The susceptibility associated with this diffuse scattering follows the anomaly of the dielectric permittivity of SBN-61 well. Below Tc the shape of this scattering is consistent with the scattering expected from ferroelectric domain walls. Our results suggest that despite apparent chemical disorder SBN-61 behaves as a classic order-disorder uniaxial ferroelectric with critical fluctuations in the range <10(-11) s.

Spin pseudogap in Ni-doped SrCuO2.

The S=1/2 spin chain material SrCuO2 doped with 1% S=1 Ni impurities is studied by inelastic neutron scattering. At low temperatures, the spectrum shows a pseudogap Δ≈8 meV, absent in the parent compound, and not related to any structural phase transition. The pseudogap is shown to be a generic feature of quantum spin chains with dilute defects. A simple model based on this idea quantitatively accounts for the experimental data measured in the temperature range from 2 to 300 K, and allows us to represent the momentum-integrated dynamic structure factor in a universal scaling form.

The structure and low-energy phonons of the nonferroelectric mixed perovskite: BaMg1/3Ta2/3O3.

The structure of BaMg(1/3)Ta(2/3)O(3) (BMT) has been studied using x-ray scattering. The phonons have been measured and the results are similar to those of other materials with a perovskite structure such as PbMg(1/3)Nb(2/3)O(3) (PMN). The acoustic and lowest energy optic branches were measured but it was not possible to measure the branches of higher energy, possibly this is because they largely consist of oxygen motions. High-resolution inelastic measurements also showed that the diffuse scattering was strictly elastic and not directly related to the phonon spectra. Diffuse scattering was observed in BMT near the (H ± 1/2, K ± 1/2, L ± 1/2) points in the Brillouin zone and these had a characteristic cube shape. This arises from ordering of the B-site ions in BMT. Additional experiments revealed the diffuse scattering in BMT similar in shape to Bragg reflections at wavevectors of the form (H ± 1/3, K ± 1/3, L ± 1/3). Such reflections were also observed by Lufaso (2004 Chem. Mater. 16 2148) from powders and suggest that this structure of BMT consists of four differently oriented domains of a trigonal structure and results from a different ordering of the B-site ions from that responsible for the scattering at the (H ± 1/2, K ± 1/2, L ± 1/2) points. The results lead us to suggest that for BMT single crystals the bulk has the properties of a cubic perovskite, whereas the surface may have quite different structure from that of the bulk. This difference resembles the behaviour of cubic relaxors like PMN and PMN doped by PbTiO(3), where significant surface effects have been reported.

Asymmetric thermal line shape broadening in a gapped 3D antiferromagnet: evidence for strong correlations at finite temperature.

It is widely believed that magnetic excitations become increasingly incoherent as the temperature is raised due to random collisions which limit their lifetime. This picture is based on spin-wave calculations for gapless magnets in 2 and 3 dimensions and is observed experimentally as a symmetric Lorentzian broadening in energy. Here, we investigate a three-dimensional dimer antiferromagnet and find unexpectedly that the broadening is asymmetric-indicating that far from thermal decoherence, the excitations behave collectively like a strongly correlated gas. This result suggests that a temperature activated coherent state of quasiparticles is not confined to special cases like the highly dimerized spin-1/2 chain but is found generally in dimerized antiferromagnets of all dimensionalities and perhaps gapped magnets in general.

Spectral and thermodynamic properties of a strong-leg quantum spin ladder.

The strong-leg S=1/2 Heisenberg spin ladder system (C(7)H(10)N)(2)CuBr(4) is investigated using density matrix renormalization group calculations, inelastic neutron scattering, and bulk magnetothermodynamic measurements. Measurements showed qualitative differences compared to the strong-rung case. A long-lived two-triplon bound state is confirmed to persist across most of the Brillouin zone in a zero field. In applied fields, in the Tomonaga-Luttinger spin-liquid phase, elementary excitations are attractive, rather than repulsive. In the presence of weak interladder interactions, the strong-leg system is considerably more prone to three-dimensional ordering.

Incommensurate magnetic order in TbTe3.

We report a neutron diffraction study of the magnetic phase transitions in the charge-density wave (CDW) TbTe(3) compound. We discover that in the paramagnetic phase there are strong 2D-like magnetic correlations, consistent with the pronounced anisotropy of the chemical structure. A long-range incommensurate magnetic order emerges in TbTe(3) at T(mag1) = 5.78 K as a result of continuous phase transitions. We observe that near the temperature T(mag1) the magnetic Bragg peaks appear around the position (0, 0, 0.24) (or its rational multiples), that is fairly close to the propagation vector (0,0,0.29) associated with the CDW phase transition in TbTe(3). This suggests that correlations leading to the long-range magnetic order in TbTe(3) are linked to the modulations that occur in the CDW state.

Magnetic excitations of Fe(1+y)Se(x)Te(1-x) in magnetic and superconductive phases.

We have used inelastic neutron scattering and muon-spin rotation to compare the low energy magnetic excitations in single crystals of superconducting Fe(1.01)Se(0.50)Te(0.50) and non-superconducting Fe(1.10)Se(0.25)Te(0.75). We confirm the existence of a spin resonance in the superconducting phase of Fe(1.01)Se(0.50)Te(0.50), at an energy of 7 meV and a wavevector of (1/2, 1/2, 0). The non-superconducting sample exhibits two incommensurate magnetic excitations at (1/2, 1/2, 0) ± (0.18, - 0.18, 0) which rise steeply in energy, but no resonance is observed at low energies. A strongly dispersive low energy magnetic excitation is also observed in Fe(1.10)Se(0.25)Te(0.75) close to the commensurate antiferromagnetic ordering wavevector (1/2 - δ, 0, 1/2), where δ≈0.03. The magnetic correlations in both samples are found to be quasi-two-dimensional in character and persist well above the magnetic (Fe(1.10)Se(0.25)Te(0.75)) and superconducting (Fe(1.01)Se(0.50)Te(0.50)) transition temperatures.

Fractal properties of lysozyme: a neutron scattering study.

The spatial structure and dynamics of hen egg white lysozyme have been investigated by small-angle and inelastic neutron scattering. Analysis of the results was carried using the fractal approach, which allowed determination of the fractal and fracton dimensions of lysozyme, i.e., consideration of the protein structure and dynamics by using a unified approach. Small-angle neutron scattering studies of thermal denaturation of lysozyme have revealed changes in the fractal dimension in the vicinity of the thermal denaturation temperature that reflect changes in the spatial organization of protein.

Quantum magnets under pressure: controlling elementary excitations in TlCuCl3.

We follow the evolution of the elementary excitations of the quantum antiferromagnet TlCuCl3 through the pressure-induced quantum critical point, which separates a dimer-based quantum disordered phase from a phase of long-ranged magnetic order. We demonstrate by neutron spectroscopy the continuous emergence in the weakly ordered state of a low-lying but massive excitation corresponding to longitudinal fluctuations of the magnetic moment. This mode is not present in a classical description of ordered magnets, but is a direct consequence of the quantum critical point.

Magnetism in geometrically frustrated YMnO3 under hydrostatic pressure studied with muon spin relaxation.

The ferroelectromagnet YMnO3 consists of weakly coupled triangular layers of S=2 spins. Below T(N) approximately equal to 70 K muon-spin relaxation data show two oscillatory relaxing signals due to magnetic order, with no purely relaxing signals resolvable (which would require different coexisting spin distributions). The transition temperature T(N) increases with applied hydrostatic pressure, even though the ordered moment decreases. These results suggest that pressure increases both the exchange coupling between the layers and the frustration within the layers.

Multiple magnon modes and consequences for the Bose-Einstein condensed phase in BaCuSi2O6.

The compound BaCuSi2O6 is a quantum magnet with antiferromagnetic dimers of S=1/2 moments on a quasi-2D square lattice. We have investigated its spin dynamics by inelastic neutron scattering experiments on single crystals with an energy resolution considerably higher than in an earlier study. We observe multiple magnon modes, indicating clearly the presence of magnetically inequivalent dimer sites. The more complex spin Hamiltonian revealed in our study leads to a distinct form of magnon Bose-Einstein condensate phase with a spatially modulated condensate amplitude.

Evidence for a quasi-two-dimensional proton glass state in Cs5H3(SO4)(4); xH(2)O Crystals.

We describe damping of hypersonic and ultrasonic longitudinal acoustic (LA) phonons in crystals of Cs 5H (3)(SO (4))(4);xH 2O (PCHS) between 100 and 360 K. The damping of LA phonons exhibits strong dispersion caused by relaxation processes in the region of transformation into the glasslike phase (T(g) approximately 260 K). Near T(g) the damping of ultrasonic phonons propagating in the basal plane reflects the cooperative freezing of acid protons. The damping of LA phonons propagating perpendicular to the basal plane can be fit by the Debye model and is due to the interaction between protons and LA phonons. This suggests that the proton glass state that is realized at T