Correlated decay of triplet excitations in the Shastry-Sutherland compound SrCu2(BO3)2.

The temperature dependence of the gapped triplet excitations (triplons) in the 2D Shastry-Sutherland quantum magnet SrCu(2)(BO(3))(2) is studied by means of inelastic neutron scattering. The excitation amplitude rapidly decreases as a function of temperature, while the integrated spectral weight can be explained by an isolated dimer model up to 10 K. Analyzing this anomalous spectral line shape in terms of damped harmonic oscillators shows that the observed damping is due to a two-component process: one component remains sharp and resolution limited while the second broadens. We explain the underlying mechanism through a simple yet quantitatively accurate model of correlated decay of triplons: an excited triplon is long lived if no thermally populated triplons are nearby but decays quickly if there are. The phenomenon is a direct consequence of frustration induced triplon localization in the Shastry-Sutherland lattice.

Microscopic evidence of spin state order and spin state phase separation in layered cobaltites RBaCo2O5.5 with R=Y, Tb, Dy, and Ho.

We report muon-spin relaxation measurements on the magnetic structures of RBaCo2O(5.5) with R=Y, Tb, Dy, and Ho. Three different phases, one ferrimagnetic and two antiferromagnetic, are identified below 300 K. They consist of different ordered spin state arrangements of high-, intermediate-, and low-spin Co3+ of CoO6 octahedra. Phase separation into well separated regions with different spin state order is observed in the antiferromagnetic phases. The unusual strongly anisotropic magnetoresistance and its onset at the FM-AFM phase boundary is explained.

Oxygen isotope effect on metal-insulator transition in layered cobaltites RBaCo2O5.5 (R = Pr, Dy, Ho and Y).

Both differential scanning calorimetry and powder neutron diffraction have been applied to investigate an oxygen isotope effect on the metal-insulator (MI) transition in layered cobaltites RBaCo2O5.5 (R = Pr, Dy, Ho and Y). For all the compounds it was found that 18O substitution increases the transition temperature TMI by about 2 K. A small negative isotope-effect coefficient α0∼-0.06 indicates that a delocalization of the pd σ holes in the Co3+ high spin state (rather than a spin-state transition) can be responsible for the MI transition, in agreement with density-functional calculations (Wu 2003 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 15 503).