Unusual magnetization process and magnetocaloric effect in α-CoV2O6driven by pulsed magnetic fields.

In low-dimensional Ising spin systems, an interesting observation is the presence of step magnetization at low temperatures. Here we combine both DC and pulsed magnetic fields to study the 1/3 magnetization plateau and multiple steps in the Ising spin-chain material α-CoV2O6. Magnetization in pulsed fields is quite different from that in DC fields, showing multiple steps in an intermediate range of 4.2-6 K, inverted hysteresis below 4.2 K and asymmetric magnetization in negative fields below 11 K. We demonstrate that these unusual behaviors in magnetization are caused by the spin dynamics and the anomalous magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in α-CoV2O6, i.e., abrupt changes of sample temperature in adiabatic conditions. We successfully separate the influence between the intrinsic slow spin dynamics and the quasi-extrinsic temperature change. From the MCE, we find that some irreversible behavior is originated from the slow spin dynamics. Two different slow dynamics associated with the metastable steps are observed: one is sensitive to the slow field sweep rate at the order of ∼mT s-1and weakly depends on temperature, while the other responds to the rapid field sweep rate of ∼kT s-1and dominates at lowest temperature. We also distinguish that the metastable transition atH4is the first order and crucial for the ferrimagnetic to ferromagnetic transition. This study is useful to the understanding of multistep magnetization in α-CoV2O6and sheds light on recent experimental findings of related compounds.

Survival of itinerant excitations and quantum spin state transitions in YbMgGaO4 with chemical disorder.

A recent focus of quantum spin liquid (QSL) studies is how disorder/randomness in a QSL candidate affects its true magnetic ground state. The ultimate question is whether the QSL survives disorder or the disorder leads to a "spin-liquid-like" state, such as the proposed random-singlet (RS) state. Since disorder is a standard feature of most QSL candidates, this question represents a major challenge for QSL candidates. YbMgGaO4, a triangular lattice antiferromagnet with effective spin-1/2 Yb3+ions, is an ideal system to address this question, since it shows no long-range magnetic ordering with Mg/Ga site disorder. Despite the intensive study, it remains unresolved as to whether YbMgGaO4 is a QSL or in the RS state. Here, through ultralow-temperature thermal conductivity and magnetic torque measurements, plus specific heat and DC magnetization data, we observed a residual κ0/T term and series of quantum spin state transitions in the zero temperature limit for YbMgGaO4. These observations strongly suggest that a QSL state with itinerant excitations and quantum spin fluctuations survives disorder in YbMgGaO4.

Possible itinerant excitations and quantum spin state transitions in the effective spin-1/2 triangular-lattice antiferromagnet Na2BaCo(PO4)2.

The most fascinating feature of certain two-dimensional (2D) gapless quantum spin liquid (QSL) is that their spinon excitations behave like the fermionic carriers of a paramagnetic metal. The spinon Fermi surface is then expected to produce a linear increase of the thermal conductivity with temperature that should manifest via a residual value (κ0/T) in the zero-temperature limit. However, this linear in T behavior has been reported for very few QSL candidates. Here, we studied the ultralow-temperature thermal conductivity of an effective spin-1/2 triangular QSL candidate Na2BaCo(PO4)2, which has an antiferromagnetic order at very low temperature (TN ~ 148 mK), and observed a finite κ0/T extrapolated from the data above TN. Moreover, while approaching zero temperature, it exhibits series of quantum spin state transitions with applied field along the c axis. These observations indicate that Na2BaCo(PO4)2 possibly behaves as a gapless QSL with itinerant spin excitations above TN and its strong quantum spin fluctuations persist below TN.

Size reduction-induced chain breaking in Haldane-chain compounds SrNi2-x Mg x V2O8 (x = 0 and 0.1).

We report size reduction-induced chain breaking in the spin-1 Haldane-chain SrNi2-x Mg x V2O8 (x = 0 and 0.1) by magnetization and electron spin resonance measurements. For x = 0.0, the magnetic susceptibility of all samples can be well described by a temperature-independent term, a Curie-Weiss term and a Haldane-gap term. This implies that a reduced sample grain size breaks the long chain and creates a considerable number of S = 1/2 edge spins, resulting in the enhancement of magnetization and the decrease of Haldane gap in the samples. These edge spins as well as the other paramagnetic ions at grain boundary and surface might be weakly coupled with each other. For the Mg-doped sample with x = 0.1, there are more S = 1/2 spins creased in relative to x = 0.0 because of a combined effect of lattice defects, Mg-doping and reduced size. In addition, the antiferromagnetic resonance of x = 0.1 is also presented.

An alternative cetyltrimethylammonium bromide-based protocol for RNA isolation from blackberry (Rubus L.).

Isolation of high-quality RNA free of contaminants, such as polyphenols, proteins, plant secondary metabolites, and genomic DNA from plant tissues, is usually a challenging but crucial step for molecular analysis. We developed a novel protocol based on the cetyltrimethylammonium bromide method to isolate high-quality RNA from blackberry plant tissues, especially fruits. Most DNA was removed when acetic acid was utilized, before RNA precipitation. Thus, lithium chloride, a reagent widely used for RNA purification, was not needed. The isolation time was shortened to less than 3 h. The RNA was quite pure, with little DNA contamination. The quality of the RNA was assessed by spectrophotometric readings and electrophoresis on agarose gels. It was good enough for downstream enzymatic reactions, such as reverse transcription-PCR, cloning and real-time PCR assay. The method yielded an amount of total RNA comparable to previously described protocols.

Toughening mechanisms in iron-containing hydroxyapatite/titanium composites.

Pure hydroxyapatite (HA) is brittle and it cannot be directly used for the load-bearing biomedical applications. The purpose of this investigation was to develop a new iron-containing HA/titanium composite via pressureless sintering at a relatively low temperature with particular emphasis on identifying the underlying toughening mechanisms. The addition of iron to HA/titanium composites led to a unique and favorable core/shell microstructure of Ti-Fe particles that consisted of outer titanium and inner iron, and good interfacial bonding with HA matrix. While the relative density, hardness and Young's modulus reduced, the flexural strength, fracture toughness, fatigue resistance, and the related fracture surface roughness increased significantly with increasing amount of Ti-Fe particles. Different toughening mechanisms including crack bridging, branching and deflection were observed in the composites, thus effectively increasing the crack propagation resistance and resulting in a substantial improvement in the mechanical properties of the composites.