Controlling Luttinger liquid physics in spin ladders under a magnetic field.

ABSTRACT

We present a 14N nuclear magnetic resonance study of a single crystal of CuBr4(C5H12N)2 (BPCB) consisting of weakly coupled spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnetic ladders. Treating ladders in the gapless phase as Luttinger liquids, we are able to fully account for (i) the magnetic field dependence of the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate T1(-1) at 250 mK and for (ii) the phase transition to a 3D ordered phase occurring below 110 mK due to weak interladder exchange coupling. BPCB is thus an excellent model system where the possibility to control Luttinger liquid parameters in a continuous manner is demonstrated and the Luttinger liquid model tested in detail over the whole fermion band.