arXiv subjects

A. Revcolevschi

Publications and source records attributed to A. Revcolevschi.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv1998

NMR imaging of the soliton lattice profile in the spin-Peierls compound CuGeO_3

In the spin-Peierls compound CuGeO$_{3}$, the commensurate-incommensurate transition concerning the modulation of atomic position and the local spin-polarization is fully monitored at T=0 by the application of an external magnetic field ($H$) above a threshold value $H_{c}\simeq $ 13 Tesla. The solitonic profile of the spin-polarization, as well as its absolute magnitude, has been precisely imaged from $^{65}Cu$ NMR lineshapes obtained for $h=(H-H_{c})/H_{c}$ varying from 0.0015 to 2. This offers a unique possibility to test quantitatively the various numerical and analytical methods developed to solve a generic Hamiltonian in 1-D physics, namely strongly interacting fermions in presence of electron-phonon coupling at arbitrary band filling.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1998

X-ray Investigation of the Magneto-elastic Instability of alpha'-NaV2O5

We present an X-ray diffuse scattering study of the pretransitional structural fluctuations of the magneto-elastic transition in alpha'-NaV2O5. This transition is characterized by the appearance below Tsp~35K of satellite reflections at the reduced wave vector (1/2,1/2,1/4). A large regime of structural fluctuations is measured up to 90 K. These fluctuations are three dimensional between Tsp and ~50K and quasi-one dimensional above ~60K. At 40 K the anisotropy ratio is found to be (xib :xia :xic)= (3.8 : 1.8 : 1), which reveals the importance of transverse interactions in the stabilization of the low temperature phase. We discuss our results within the framework of recent theories dealing with the simultaneous occurrence of a charge ordering, a spin gap and a lattice distortion in this intriguing compound.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1998

Spin Dynamics in the Magnetic Chains Arrays of Sr14Cu24O41: a Neutron Inelastic scattering Investigation

Below about 150 K, the spin arrangement in the chain arrays of Sr14Cu24O41 is shown to develop in two dimensions (2D). Both the correlations and the dispersion of the observed elementary excitations agree well with a model of interacting dimers. Along the chains, the intra- and inter-dimer distances are equal to 2 and about 3 times the distance (c) between neighboring Cu ions. While the intra-dimer coupling is J about 10 meV, the inter-dimer couplings along and between the chains are of comparable strenght, J// about -1.1 meV and Jperp about 1.7 meV, respectively. This remarkable 2D arrangement satisfies the formal Cu valence of the undoped compound. Our data suggest also that it is associated with a relative sliding of one chain with respect to the next one, which, as T decreases, develops in the chain direction. A qualitative analysis shows that nearest inter-dimer spin correlations are ferromagnetic, which, in such a 2D structure, could well result from frustration effects.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1998

Dopant-Bound Spinons in Cu_(1-x)Zn_xGeO_3

Polarized inelastic light scattering experiments on Cu_(1-x)Zn_xGeO_3 (0<= x <= 0.045) single crystals show for x<>0 a new distinct mode at nearly half the energy of the singlet response below the spin-Peierls transition. The temperature, magnetic field, polarization, and doping dependencies of this mode are similar to those of the singlet bound state. The data are interpreted in terms of a spinon-assisted light scattering process. Position and form of the peak provide strong evidence for the presence of dopant-bound spinons in Cu_(1-x)Zn_xGeO_3.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1998

Infrared study of spin-Peierls compound alpha'-NaV2O5

Infrared reflectance of alpha'-NaV2O5 single crystals in the frequency range from 50 cm-1 to 10000 cm-1 was studied for a, b and c-polarisations. In addition to phonon modes identification, for the a-polarised spectrum a broad continuum absorption in the range of 1D magnetic excitation energies was found. The strong near-IR absorption band at 0.8 eV shows a strong anisotropy with vanishing intensity in c-polarisation. Activation of new phonons due to the lattice dimerisation were detected below 35K as well as pretransitional structural fluctuations up to 65K.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1998

Structure and Spin Dynamics of La$_{0.85}$Sr$_{0.15}$MnO$_3$

Neutron scattering has been used to study the structure and spin dynamics of La$_{0.85}$Sr$_{0.15}$MnO$_3$. The magnetic structure of this system is ferromagnetic below T_C = 235 K. We see anomalies in the Bragg peak intensities and new superlattice peaks consistent with the onset of a spin-canted phase below T_{CA} = 205 K, which appears to be associated with a gap at q = (0, 0, 0.5) in the spin-wave spectrum. Anomalies in the lattice parameters indicate a concomitant lattice distortion. The long-wavelength magnetic excitations are found to be conventional spin waves, with a gapless (< 0.02 meV) isotropic dispersion relation $E = Dq^2$. The spin stiffness constant D has a $T^{5/2}$ dependence at low T, and the damping at small q follows $q^4T^{2}$. An anomalously strong quasielastic component, however, develops at small wave vector above 200 K and dominates the fluctuation spectrum as T -> T_C. At larger q, on the other hand, the magnetic excitations become heavily damped at low temperatures, indicating that spin waves in this regime are not eigenstates of the system, while raising the temperature dramatically increases the damping. The strength of the spin-wave damping also depends strongly on the symmetry direction in the crystal. These anomalous damping effects are likely due to the itinerant character of the $e_g$ electrons.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1998

Liquid-like spatial distribution of magnetic polarons revealed by neutron scattering in La{1-x}Ca{x}MnO3

Elastic neutron scattering experiments performed in semi-conducting La(1-x)Ca(x)MnO3 single crystals (x=0.05, 0.08), reveal new features in the problem of electronic phase separation and metal insulator transition. Below TN, the observation of a broad magnetic modulation in the q-dependent scattering intensity, centered at nearly identical qm whatever the q direction, can be explained by a liquid-like spatial distribution of similar magnetic droplets. A semi-quantitative description of their magnetic state, diameter, and average distance, can be done using a two-phase model. Such a picture can explain the anomalous characteristics of the spin wave branches and may result from unmixing forces between charge carriers predicted from the s-d model.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1998

The symmetry problem in NaV2O5

We discuss the symmetry of NaV2O5 in the high temperature phase on the basis of optical conductivity data. Conclusive information cannot be obtained by studying the optically allowed lattice vibrations. However, intensity and polarization of the electronic excitations give a direct indication for a broken-parity electronic ground-state. This is responsible for the detection of charged bi-magnons in the optical spectrum.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1998

Anomalous thermal conductivity of NaV2O5 as compared to conventional spin-Peierls system CuGeO3

A huge increase of thermal conductivity k is observed at the phase transition in stoichiometric NaV2O5. This anomaly decreases and gradually disappears with deviation from stoichiometry in Na(1-x}V2O5 (x = 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, and 0.04). This behavior is compared with that of pure and Zn-doped CuGeO3 where only modest kinks in the k(T) curves are observed at the spin-Peierls transition. The change of k at critical temperature Tc could be partially attributed to the opening of an energy gap in the magnetic excitation spectrum excluding the scattering of thermal phonons on spin fluctuations. However, the reason for such a strong anomaly in the k(T) may lie not only in the different energy scales of CuGeO3 and NaV2O5, but also in the different character of the phase transition in NaV2O5 which can have largely a structural origin, e.g. connected with the charge ordering.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1998

Charged Magnons in NaV2O5

We investigated the temperature-dependent optical conductivity of NaV2O5 in the energy range 4 meV-4 eV. The intensities and the polarization dependence of the detected electronic excitations give a direct indication for a broken-parity electronic ground-state and for a non-centrosymmetric crystal structure of the system in the high-temperature phase. A direct two-magnon optical absorption process, proposed in this Letter, is in quantitative agreement with the optical data. By analyzing the optically allowed phonons at various temperatures above and below the phase transition, we conclude that a second-order change to a larger unit cell takes place below 34 K.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1998

Double gap and solitonic excitations in the spin-Peierls chain CuGeO3

We have studied magnetic excitations in the dimerized spin-Peierls phase of CuGeO3, by high resolution inelastic neutron scattering. We measured the well-defined spin triplet dispersive mode which is gapped throughout the whole Brillouin zone. We also observed that this mode is separated by an unexpected second gap of order 2 meV from a continuum of magnetic excitations extending to higher energy. The first gap (or 'triplet gap') and its associated dispersive mode is due to the breaking of a singlet dimer into a delocalized triplet. We propose that the second gap (or 'solitonic gap') and the continuum correspond to dissociation of that triplet into two unbound spin-1/2 solitons that are separated by a dimerized region of arbitrary length.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1997

Revival of the spin-Peierls transition in Cu_xZn_(1-x)GeO_3 under pressure

Pressure and temperature dependent susceptibility and Raman scattering experiments on single crystalline Cu_xZn_(1-x)GeO_3 have shown an unusually strong increase of the spin-Peierls phase transition temperature upon applying hydrostatic pressure. The large positive pressure coefficient (7.5 K/GPa) - almost twice as large as for the pure compound (4.5 K/GPa) - is interpreted as arising due to an increasing magnetic frustration which decreases the spin-spin correlation length, and thereby weakens the influence of the non-magnetic Zn-substitution.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1997

High frequency magneto-electrodynamics of La_(1-x)Sr_xMnO3 single crystals

The radio frequency (RF) response of La1-xSrxMnO3 single crystals reveal a variety of features associated with the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of the system. The resonance technique operating at ~ 4 MHz employed in this study is sensitive to small changes in both the magnetic susceptibility and resistivity of the samples. Very sharp changes in frequency are observed at the ferromagnetic (FM) and structural phase transitions in both the metallic (x = 0.175) and insulating (0.125) crystals studied. In addition to the known transitions identified as FM and orthorhombic distortions, our experiments show rich structures which are not observed in conventional DC magnetization and transport experiments. Our results demonstrate that RF experiments are ideally suited to investigate the complex phase diagram in the manganites. The colossal frequency change that we observe at the FM transition in the La1-xSrxMnO3 crystals is indicative of the enormous potential for using these materials in high frequency switching applications.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1997

Observation of three-magnon light scattering in CuGeO_3

Temperature and magnetic field dependent polarized Brillouin spectra of CuGeO_3 are reported. In addition to a bound singlet state at 30 cm^{-1}, a new feature has been observed at 18 cm^{-1}. This feature is interpreted in terms of a novel three-magnon light scattering process between excited triplet states.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1997

Absence of spin gap in the superconducting ladder compound Sr_2Ca_{12}Cu_{24}O_{41}

Transport and 63^Cu-NMR, Knight shift and T_1, measurements performed on the two-leg spin ladders of Sr_2Ca_{12}Cu_{24}O_{41} single crystals show a collapse of the gap in ladder spin excitations when superconductivity is stabilised under a pressure of 29 kbar. These results support the prediction made with exact diagonalisation techniques in two-leg isotropic t-J ladders of a transition between a low-doping spin gap phase and a gapless 1-D Tomonaga-Luttinger regime.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1997

Infrared signatures of the spin-Peierls transition in CuGeO3

We investigated the infrared reflectivity of several Mg- and Si-substituted CuGeO3 single crystals. The temperature dependent b-axis and c-axis optical response is reported. For T<Tsp we detected the activation of zone-boundary phonons along the b axis of the crystal on the pure sample and for 1% Mg and 0.7% Si concentrations. From a detailed analysis of the phonon parameters the redshift of the B2u mode at 48 cm^-1 is observed and discussed in relation to the soft mode expected to drive the spin-Peierls phase transition in CuGeO3. Moreover, the polarization dependence of a magnetic excitation measured in transmission at 44 cm^-1 has been investigated.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1997

Infrared reflectivity of pure and doped CuGeO3

We investigated the far- and mid-infrared reflectivity (20-6000 wavenumber) of several pure and doped CuGeO3 single crystals. The b-axis and c-axis optical response is presented for different temperatures between 4 K and 300 K. Moreover, a full group theoretical analysis of the lattice vibrational modes of CuGeO3 in the high temperature undistorted phase as well as in the low temperature spin-Peierls phase is reported and compared to the experimental results. We observe the activation of zone boundary phonons along the b axis of the crystal below the spin-Peierls transition temperature.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1996

Magnetic interactions and the pressure phase-diagram of CuGeO3

A pressure and temperature dependent Raman study of the vibrational and spin dynamics in CuGeO3 is presented. A new low temperature, high pressure phase has been identified, and a pressure-temperature phase-diagram is proposed for CuGeO3. The pressure dependence of the effective exchange interaction, of the spin-Peierls gap, and of the spin-Peierls temperature strongly supports a model in which next nearest neighbor interactions stabilise the SP ground state. The Raman data allow for a quantitative estimate of the pressure dependence of the next nearest neighbor interactions.

cond-mat.str-el↗