arXiv subjects

B. Fåk

Publications and source records attributed to B. Fåk.

34 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Microscopic dynamics of superfluid $^4$He: a comprehensive study by inelastic neutron scattering

The dynamic structure factor of superfluid $^4$He has been investigated at very low temperatures by inelastic neutron scattering. The measurements combine different incoming energies resulting in an unprecedentedly large dynamic range with excellent energy resolution, covering wave vectors $Q$ up to 5 Å$^{-1}$ and energies $ω$ up to 15 meV. A detailed description of the dynamics of superfluid $^4$He is obtained from saturated vapor pressure up to solidification. The single-excitation spectrum is substantially modified at high pressures, as the maxon energy exceeds the roton-roton decay threshold. A highly structured multi-excitation spectrum is observed at low energies, where clear thresholds and branches have been identified. Strong phonon emission branches are observed when the phonon or roton group velocities exceed the sound velocity. The spectrum is found to display strong multi-excitations whenever the single-excitations face disintegration following Pitaevskii's type a or b criteria. At intermediate energies, an interesting pattern in the dynamic structure factor is observed in the vicinity of the recoil energy. All these features, which evolve significantly with pressure, are in very good agreement with the Dynamic Many-body calculations, even at the highest densities, where the correlations are strongest.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2017

Magnetic charge injection in spin ice: a new way to fragmentation

The complexity embedded in condensed matter fertilizes the discovery of new states of matter, enriched by ingredients like frustration. Illustrating examples in magnetic systems are Kitaev spin liquids, skyrmions phases, or spin ices. These unconventional ground states support exotic excitations, for example the magnetic charges in spin ices, also called monopoles. Beyond their discovery, an important challenge is to be able to control and manipulate them. Here, we propose a new mechanism to inject monopoles in a spin ice through a staggered magnetic field. We show theoretically, and demonstrate experimentally in the Ho$_2$Ir$_2$O$_7$ pyrochlore iridate, that it results in the stabilization of a monopole crystal, which exhibits magnetic fragmentation. In this new state of matter, the magnetic moment fragments into an ordered part and a persistently fluctuating one. Compared to conventional spin ices, the different nature of the excitations in this fragmented state opens the way to novel tunable field-induced and dynamical behaviors.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

Magnetic excitations and electronic interactions in Sr$_2$CuTeO$_6$: a spin-1/2 square lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet

Sr$_2$CuTeO$_6$ presents an opportunity for exploring low-dimensional magnetism on a square lattice of $S=1/2$ Cu$^{2+}$ ions. We employ ab initio multi-reference configuration interaction calculations to unravel the Cu$^{2+}$ electronic structure and to evaluate exchange interactions in Sr$_2$CuTeO$_6$. The latter results are validated by inelastic neutron scattering using linear spin-wave theory and series-expansion corrections for quantum effects to extract true coupling parameters. Using this methodology, which is quite general, we demonstrate that Sr$_2$CuTeO$_6$ is an almost realization of a nearest-neighbor Heisenberg antiferromagnet but with relatively weak coupling of 7.18(5) meV.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

Superfluid 4He dynamics beyond quasiparticle excitations

The dynamics of superfluid 4He at and above the Landau quasiparticle regime is investigated by high precision inelastic neutron scattering measurements of the dynamic structure factor. A highly structured response is observed above the familiar phonon-maxon-roton spectrum, characterized by sharp thresholds for phonon-phonon, maxon-roton and roton-roton coupling processes. The experimental dynamic structure factor is compared to the calculation of the same physical quantity by a Dynamic Many-body theory including three-phonon processes self-consistently. The theory is found to provide a quantitative description of the dynamics of the correlated bosons for energies up to about three times that of the Landau quasiparticles.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2016

Quadrupole Order in the Frustrated Pyrochlore Tb$_{2+x}$Ti$_{2-x}$O$_{7+y}$

A hidden order that emerges in the frustrated pyrochlore Tb$_{2+x}$Ti$_{2-x}$O$_{7+y}$ with $T_{\text{c}}=0.53$ K is studied using specific heat, magnetization, and neutron scattering experiments on a high-quality single crystal. Semi-quantitative analyses based on a pseudospin-1/2 Hamiltonian for ionic non-Kramers magnetic doublets demonstrate that it is an ordered state of electric quadrupole moments. The elusive spin liquid state of the nominal Tb$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$ is most likely a U(1) quantum spin-liquid state.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Long-range order and spin-liquid states of polycrystalline Tb$_{2+x}$Ti$_{2-x}$O$_{7+y}$

Low-temperature states of polycrystalline samples of a frustrated pyrochlore oxide Tb$_{2+x}$Ti$_{2-x}$O$_{7+y}$ have been investigated by specific heat, magnetic susceptibility, and neutron scattering experiments. We have found that this system can be tuned by a minute change of $x$ from a spin-liquid state ($x < x_{\text{c}}$) to a partly ordered state with a small antiferromagnetic ordering of the order of $0.1 μ_{\text{B}}$. Specific heat shows a sharp peak at a phase transition at $T_{\text{c}}= 0.5$ K for $x=0.005$. Magnetic excitation spectra for this sample change from a quasielastic to a gapped type through $T_{\text{c}}$. The possibility of a Jahn-Teller transition is discussed.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Magnetic-field enhanced aniferromagnetism in non-centrosymmetric heavy-fermion superconductor CePt$_3$Si

The effect of magnetic field on the static and dynamic spin correlations in the non-centrosymmetric heavy-fermion superconductor CePt$_3$Si was investigated by neutron scattering. The application of a magnetic field B increases the antiferromagnetic (AFM) peak intensity. This increase depends strongly on the field direction: for B${\parallel}$[0 0 1] the intensity increases by a factor of 4.6 at a field of 6.6 T, which corresponds to more than a doubling of the AFM moment, while the moment increases by only 10 % for B${\parallel}$[1 0 0] at 5 T. This is in strong contrast to the inelastic response near the antiferromagnetic ordering vector, where no marked field variations are observed for B${\parallel}$[0 0 1] up to 3.8 T. The results reveal that the AFM state in CePt$_3$Si, which coexists with superconductivity, is distinctly different from other unconventional superconductors.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Kapellasite: a kagome quantum spin liquid

Magnetic susceptibility, NMR, muSR, and inelastic neutron scattering measurements show that kapellasite, Cu3Zn(OH)6Cl2, a geometrically frustrated spin-1/2 kagome antiferromagnet polymorphous with the herbertsmithite mineral, is a gapless spin liquid with frustrated interactions showing unusual dynamic short-range correlations of non-coplanar cuboc2 type which persist down to 20 mK. The Hamiltonian is determined from a fit of a high-temperature series expansion to thermodynamical data. The experimental data are compared to theoretical calculations using the Schwinger-boson approach.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Evidence of a bond-nematic phase in LiCuVO4

Polarized and unpolarized neutron scattering experiments on the frustrated ferromagnetic spin-1/2 chain LiCuVO4 show that the phase transition at HQ of 8 Tesla is driven by quadrupolar fluctuations and that dipolar correlations are short-range with moments parallel to the applied magnetic field in the high-field phase. Heat-capacity measurements evidence a phase transition into this high-field phase, with an anomaly clearly different from that at low magnetic fields. Our experimental data are consistent with a picture where the ground state above HQ has a next-nearest neighbour bond-nematic order along the chains with a fluid-like coherence between weakly coupled chains.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Ferroelectricity from spin supercurrents in LiCuVO4

We have studied the magnetic structure of the ferroelectric frustrated spin-1/2 chain material LiCuVO4 in applied electric and magnetic fields using polarized neutrons. A symmetry and mean-field analysis of the data rules out the presence of static Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, while exchange striction is shown to be negligible by our specific-heat measurements. The experimentally observed magnetoelectric coupling is in excellent agreement with the predictions of a purely electronic mechanism based on spin supercurrents.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2010

Reply to: Comment by S.-L. Drechsler et al. (arXiv:1006.5070v1)

In a comment on arXiv:1006.5070v1, Drechsler et al. present new band-structure calculations suggesting that the frustrated ferromagnetic spin-1/2 chain LiCuVO4 should be described by a strong rather than weak ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor interaction, in contradiction with their previous calculations. In our reply, we show that their new results are at odds with the observed magnetic structure, that their analysis of the static susceptibility neglects important contributions, and that their criticism of the spin-wave analysis of the bound-state dispersion is unfounded. We further show that their new exact diagonalization results reinforce our conclusion on the existence of a four-spinon continuum in LiCuVO4, see Enderle et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104 (2010) 237207.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2007

Determining the crystal-field ground state in rare earth Heavy Fermion materials using soft-x-ray absorption spectroscopy

We infer that soft-x-ray absorption spectroscopy is a versatile method for the determination of the crystal-field ground state symmetry of rare earth Heavy Fermion systems, complementing neutron scattering. Using realistic and universal parameters, we provide a theoretical mapping between the polarization dependence of Ce $M_{4,5}$ spectra and the charge distribution of the Ce $4f$ states. The experimental resolution can be orders of magnitude larger than the $4f$ crystal field splitting itself. To demonstrate the experimental feasibility of the method, we investigated CePd$_2$Si$_2$, thereby settling an existing disagreement about its crystal-field ground state.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2005

Low energy spin fluctuations in the heavy fermion compound Ce$_{0.925}$La$_{0.075}$Ru$_{2}$Si$_{2}$

We report inelastic neutron scattering measurements performed on a single crystal of the heavy fermion compound Ce$_{0.925}$La$_{0.075}$Ru$_{2}$Si$_{2}$, which is at the borderline between an antiferromagnetically ordered and a paramagnetic ground state. Intensity maps as a function of wavevector and energy ($0.1<E<1.2$ meV) were obtained at temperatures $T=0.1$ and 2 K, using the time-of-flight spectrometer IRIS. An unexpected saturation of the relaxation rate and static susceptibility of the spin fluctuations is found at low temperatures.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2004

Anomalous scaling behavior of the dynamical spin susceptibility of Ce$_{0.925}$La$_{0.075}$Ru$_{2}$Si$_{2}$

Inelastic neutron scattering measurements have been performed on single crystals of the heavy fermion compound Ce$_{0.925}$La$_{0.075}$Ru$_{2}$Si$_{2}$ in broad energy [0.1, 9.5 meV] and temperature [40 mK, 294 K] ranges in order to address the question of scaling behavior of the dynamical spin susceptibility at the quantum critical point of an itinerant magnetic system. For two wavevectors $\mathbf{Q}$ corresponding to uncorrelated and antiferromagnetically correlated spin fluctuations, it is found that the dynamical spin susceptibility $χ''(\mathbf{Q},E,T)$ is independent of temperature below a cut-off temperature $T_{\mathbf{Q}}$: the spin fluctuation amplitude saturates at low temperatures contrarily to its expected divergence at a quantum critical point. Above $T_{\mathbf{Q}}$, a $\mathbf{Q}$-dependent scaling behavior of the form $Tχ''(\mathbf{Q},E,T) = C_{\mathbf{Q}}f[E/(a_{\mathbf{Q}}T^{β_{\mathbf{Q}}})]$ with $β_{\mathbf{Q}}<1$ is obtained. This scaling does not enter the general framework of quantum phase transition theories, since it is obtained in a high temperature range, where Kondo spin fluctuations depend strongly on temperature.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2003

Spin Fluctuations and Non-Fermi-Liquid Behavior of CeNi_2Ge_2

Neutron scattering shows that non-Fermi-liquid behavior of the heavy-fermion compound CeNi_2Ge_2 is brought about by the development of low-energy spin fluctuations with an energy scale of 0.6 meV. They appear around the antiferromagnetic wave vectors $({1/2} {1/2} 0)$ and $(0 0 {3/4})$ at low temperatures, and coexist with high-energy spin fluctuations with an energy scale of 4 meV and a modulation vector $(0.23, 0.23, {1/2})$. This unusual energy dependent structure of $\text{Im} χ(\bm{Q}, E)$ in $\bm{Q}$ space suggests that quasiparticle bands are important.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2002

Search for novel order in URu2Si2 by neutron scattering

We have made extensive reciprocal space maps in the heavy-fermion superconductor URu2Si2 using high-resolution time-of-flight single-crystal neutron diffraction to search for signs of a hidden order parameter related to the 17.5 K phase transition. Within the present sensitivity of the experiment (0.007 uB/U-ion for sharp peaks), no additional features such as incommensurate structures or short-range order have been found in the (h0l) or (hhl) scattering planes. The only additional low-temperature scattering observed was the well-known tiny antiferromagnetic moment of 0.03 uB/U-ion.

cond-mat.str-el↗