arXiv subjects

K. Beauvois

Publications and source records attributed to K. Beauvois.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Competing Ordering Modes in the Distorted Quantum Kagome Material Clinoatacamite Cu$_2$Cl(OH)$_3$

We have studied the magnetic properties of clinoatacamite Cu$_2$Cl(OH)$_3$, the parent compound of the quantum spin liquid candidate herbertsmithite and a longstanding puzzle among frustrated quantum magnets. As we reveal using density-functional theory, clinoatacamite belongs to the class of distorted kagome antiferromagnets with the kagome plane being embedded into a low-symmetry crystal structure. By means of thermodynamic measurements, muon spin rotation/relaxation as well as neutron diffraction on single crystals, we find in zero magnetic field complex behavior below $T_\mathrm{I}$ = 18.1 K which unfolds in three temperature regions I-III. We propose this complexity in multicritical clinoatacamite to arise from the competition of antiferromagnetic ordering modes from the underconstrained manifold of modes, which can lead to a metamagnetic texture in zero field.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Vortex order in magnetic frustrated GeNi$_2$O$_4$ and GeCo$_2$O$_4$ spinels

In the search for new spin textures based on singular magnetic objects like Bloch-points or vortices, spinel compounds emerge as an interesting playground due to the interplay between magnetic anisotropy and complex interactions that extend well beyond first neighbors on a pyrochlore lattice. Based on an exploration of the exchange interaction phase diagrams of members of the Ge$B_2$O$_4$ family with $B$=Co and Ni, we show, using simultaneous modeling of inelastic neutron scattering measurements and single-crystal neutron diffraction data, that a 2-$k$ magnetic structure may be stabilized in these compounds. This leads to a short period spin vortex crystal, a variant induced by the magnetic anisotropy of the 3-$k$ Bloch-point structure predicted for isotropic spins. Our study rationalizes the formation of these multi-$k$ spin textures in frustrated antiferromagnets, as well as their anisotropy-dependent evolution.

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arXiv2025

Magnetic phase diagram of magnetocaloric TmFeO$_3$

Neutron diffraction experiments of TmFeO$_3$ single crystals were performed in the external magnetic fields. The field along $c$-axis increases temperature of spin-reorientation transition $T_{SR}$ from phase $Γ4$ to $Γ2$. Application of the field along $b$-axis led to the decrease of $T_{SR}$ and to the formation of new phases. Based on the temperature and field dependence of the Bragg reflection intensity, the configuration of magnetically induced phases was proposed.

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arXiv2024

Uncommon magnetic ordering in the quantum magnet Yb$_{3}$Ga$_{5}$O$_{12}$

The antiferromagnetic structure of Yb$_{3}$Ga$_{5}$O$_{12}$ is identified by neutron diffraction experiments below the previously-known transition at $T_λ=54$ mK. The magnetic propagation vector is found to be ${\bf k}=(1/2, 1/2, 0)$, an unusual wave-vector in the garnet structure. The associated complex magnetic structure highlights the role of exchange interactions in a nearly isotropic system dominated by dipolar interactions and finds echos with exotic structures theoretically proposed. Reduced values of the ordered moments may indicate significant quantum fluctuations in this effective spin-1/2 geometrically frustrated magnet.

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arXiv2024

Magnetic field-induced phases and spin Hamiltonian in Cs2CoBr4

Magnetic structures and spin excitations are studied across the phase diagram of the geometrically frustrated S = 3/2 quantum antiferromagnet Cs2CoBr4 in magnetic fields applied along the magnetic easy axis, using neutron diffraction, inelastic neutron scattering and THz absorption spectroscopy. The data are analyzed, where appropriate, using extended SU (4) linear spin wave theory. A minimal magnetic Hamiltonian is proposed based on measurements in the high field polarized state. It deviates considerably from the previously considered models. Additional dilatometry experiments highlight the importance of magnetoelastic coupling in this system.

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arXiv2023

Incommensurate antiferromagnetism in UTe2 under pressure

The discovery of multiple superconducting phases in UTe2 boosted research on correlated-electron physics. This heavy-fermion paramagnet was rapidly identified as a reference compound to study the interplay between magnetism and unconventional superconductivity with multiple degrees of freedom. The proximity to a ferromagnetic quantum phase transition was initially proposed as a driving force to triplet-pairing superconductivity. However, we find here that long-range incommensurate antiferromagnetic order is established under pressure. The propagation vector km = (0.07,0.33,1) of the antiferromagnetic phase is close to a wavevector where antiferromagnetic fluctuations have previously been observed at ambient pressure. These elements support that UTe2 is a nearly-antiferromagnet at ambient pressure. Our work appeals for theories modelling the evolution of the magnetic interactions and electronic properties, driving a correlated paramagnetic regime at ambient pressure to a long-range antiferromagnetic order under pressure. A deeper understanding of itinerant-f-electrons magnetism in UTe2 will be a key for describing its unconventional superconducting phases.

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arXiv2022

Neutron diffraction in MnSb2O6: Magnetic and structural domains in a helicoidal polar magnet with coupled chiralities

MnSb$_{2}$O$_{6}$ is based on the structural chiral $P$321 space group #150 where the magnetic Mn$^{2+}$ moments ($S=5/2$, $L\approx 0$) order antiferromagnetically at $T_\mathrm{N}=12$ K. Unlike the related iron based langasite (Ba$_3$NbFe$_3$Si$_2$O$_{14}$) where the low temperature magnetism is based on a proper helix characterized by a time-even pseudoscalar `magnetic' chirality, the Mn$^{2+}$ ions in MnSb$_{2}$O$_{6}$ order with a cycloidal structure at low temperatures, described instead by a time-even vector `magnetic' polarity. A tilted cycloidal structure has been found [M. Kinoshita et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 047201 (2016)] to facilitate ferroelectric switching under an applied magnetic field. In this work, we apply polarized and unpolarized neutron diffraction analyzing the magnetic and nuclear structures in MnSb$_{2}$O$_{6}$ with the aim of understanding this magnetoelectric coupling. We find no evidence for a helicoidal magnetic structure with one of the spin envelope axes tilted away from the cycloidal $c$-axis. However, on application of a magnetic field $\parallel$ $\vec{c}$ the spin rotation plane can be tilted, giving rise to a cycloid-helix admixture that evolves towards a distorted helix (zero cycloidal component) for fields great than $\approx$ 2 T. We propose a mechanism for the previously reported ferroelectric switching based on coupled structural and magnetic chiralities requiring only an imbalance of structural chiral domains.

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arXiv2022

Inhomogeneous spin excitations in weakly coupled spin-1/2 chains

We present a systematic inelastic neutron scattering and neutron diffraction study of the magnetic structure of the quasi-1D spin-1/2 magnet SrCo2V2O8, where the interchain coupling in the Neel-type antiferromagnetic ground state breaks the static spin lattice into two independent domains. At zero magnetic field, we observe two new spin excitations with small spectral weights inside the gapped region defined by the spinon bound states. In an external magnetic field along the chain axis, the Neel order is partially destabilized above 2 T and completely suppressed at 3.9 T, above which a quantum disordered Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (TLL) prevails. We propose that the two new modes at zero field are spinon excitations inside the domain walls. Since they have a smaller gap than those excited in the Neel domains, the underlying spin chains enter the TLL state via a local quantum phase transition at 2 T, making a stable Neel / TLL coexistence until the excitation gap closes in the Neel state at 3.9 T.

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arXiv2021

Field-temperature phase diagram of the enigmatic Nd$_2$(Zr$_{1-x}$Ti$_x$)$_2$O$_7$ pyrochlore magnets

By combining neutron scattering and magnetization measurements down to 80 mK, we determine the $(H,T)$ phase diagram of the Nd$_2$(Zr$_{1-x}$Ti$_x$)$_2$O$_7$ pyrochlore magnet compounds. In those samples, Zr is partially substituted by Ti, hence tuning the exchange parameters and testing the robustness of the various phases. In all samples, the ground state remains "all in / all out", while the field induces phase transitions towards new states characterized by "2 in - 2 out" or "1 out - 3 in / 1 in - 3 out" configurations. These transitions manifest as metamagnetic singularities in the magnetization vs field measurements. Strikingly, it is found that moderate substitution reinforces the stability of the "all in / all out" phase: the Néel temperature, the metamagnetic fields along with the ordered magnetic moment are higher in substituted samples with $x <$ 10\%.

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arXiv2021

Infrared phonon spectroscopy on the Cairo pentagonal antiferromagnet Bi2Fe4O9: a study through the pressure induced structural transition

Magnetic and crystallographic transitions in the Cairo pentagonal magnet Bi2Fe4O9 are investigated by means of infrared synchrotron-based spectroscopy as a function of temperature (20 - 300 K) and pressure (0 - 15.5 GPa). One of the phonon modes is shown to exhibit an anomalous softening as a function of temperature in the antiferromagnetic phase below 240 K, highlighting spin-lattice coupling. Moreover, under applied pressure at 40 K, an even larger softening is observed through the pressure induced structural transition. Lattice dynamical calculations reveal that this mode is indeed very peculiar as it involves a minimal bending of the strongest superexchange path in the pentagonal planes, as well as a decrease of the distances between second neighbor irons. The latter confirms the hypothesis made by Friedrich et al.,1 about an increase in the oxygen coordination of irons being at the origin of the pressure-induced structural transition. As a consequence, one expects a new magnetic superexchange path that may alter the magnetic structure under pressure.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2020

The dispersion relation of Landau elementary excitations and the thermodynamic properties of superfluid $^4$He

The dispersion relation $ε(k)$ of the elementary excitations of superfluid $^4$He has been measured at very low temperatures, from saturated vapor pressure up to solidification, using a high flux time-of-flight neutron scattering spectrometer equipped with a high spatial resolution detector (10$^5$ 'pixels'). A complete determination of $ε(k)$ is achieved, from very low wave-vectors up to the end of Pitaeskii's plateau. The results compare favorably in the whole the wave-vector range with the predictions of the dynamic many-body theory (DMBT). At low wave-vectors, bridging the gap between ultrasonic data and former neutron measurements, the evolution with the pressure from anomalous to normal dispersion, as well as the peculiar wave-vector dependence of the phase and group velocities, are accurately characterized. The thermodynamic properties have been calculated analytically, developing Landau's model, using the measured dispersion curve. A good agreement is found below 0.85 K between direct heat capacity measurements and the calculated specific heat, if thermodynamically consistent power series expansions are used. The thermodynamic properties have also been calculated numerically; in this case, the results are applicable with excellent accuracy up to 1.3 K, a temperature above which the dispersion relation itself becomes temperature dependent.

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arXiv2020

Magnetic structure of Cd-doped CeIrIn$_5$

We report the magnetic structure of nominally 10% Cd-doped CeIrIn$_5$, CeIr(In$_{0.9}$Cd$_{0.1}$)$_5$, determined by elastic neutron scattering. Magnetic intensity was observed only at the ordering wave vector $Q_{AF} = (1/2,1/2,1/2)$, commensurate with the crystal lattice. A staggered moment of 0.47(3)$μ_B$ at 1.8 K resides on the Ce ion. The magnetic moments are found to be aligned along the crystallographic $c$ axis. This is further confirmed by magnetic susceptibility data, which suggest the $c$ axis to be the easy magnetic axis. The determined magnetic structure is strikingly different from the incommensurate antiferromagnetic ordering of the closely related compound CeRhIn$_5$, in which the magnetic moments are antiferromagnetically aligned within the tetragonal basal plane.

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arXiv2020

Dimer Physics in the Frustrated Cairo Pentagonal Antiferromagnet Bi2Fe4O9

The research field of magnetic frustration is dominated by triangle-based lattices but exotic phenomena can also be observed in pentagonal networks. A peculiar noncollinear magnetic order is indeed known to be stabilized in Bi2Fe4O9 materializing a Cairo pentagonal lattice. We present the spin wave excitations in the magnetically ordered state, obtained by inelastic neutron scattering. They reveal an unconventional excited state related to local precession of pairs of spins. The magnetic excitations are then modeled to determine the superexchange interactions for which the frustration is indeed at the origin of the spin arrangement. This analysis unveils a hierarchy in the interactions, leading to a paramagnetic state (close to the Néel temperature) constituted of strongly coupled dimers separated by much less correlated spins. This produces two types of response to an applied magnetic field associated with the two nonequivalent Fe sites, as observed in the magnetization distributions obtained using polarized neutrons.

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arXiv2019

Presaturation phase with no dipolar order in a quantum ferro-antiferromagnet

Magnetization, magnetocaloric, calorimetric, neutron and X-ray diffraction and inelastic neutron scattering measurements are performed on single crystals of BaCdVO(PO$_4$)$_2$. The low-temperature crystal structure is found to be of a lower symmetry than previously assumed. The result is a more complicated model spin Hamiltonian, which we infer from measurements of the spin wave dispersion spectrum. The main finding is a novel spin state which emerges in high magnetic fields after antiferromagnetic order is terminated at $H_{c1}\simeq 4.0$ T. It is a distinct thermodynamic phase with a well-defined phase boundary at $H_{c2}\simeq 6.5$ T and is clearly separate from the fully saturated phase. Yet, it shows no conventional (dipolar) magnetic long range order. We argue that it is fully consistent with the expectations for a quantum bond-nematic state.

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arXiv2019

Transport and Phonon Damping in $^{\bf 4}$He

The dynamic structure function $S(k,ω)$ informs about the dispersion and damping of excitations. We have recently (Phys. Rev. B {\bf 97}, 184520 (2018)) compared experimental results for $S(k,ω)$ from high-precision neutron scattering experiment and theoretical results using the ``dynamic many-body theory'' (DMBT), showing excellent agreement over the whole experimentally accessible pressure regime. This paper focuses on the specific aspect of the propagation of low-energy phonons. We report calculations of the phonon mean-free path and phonon life time in liquid \he4 as a function of wave length and pressure. Historically, the question was of interest for experiments of quantum evaporation. More recently, there is interest in the potential use of $^4$He as a detector for low-energy dark matter (K. Schulz and Kathryn M. Zurek, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 117}, 121302 (2016)). While the mean free path of long wave length phonons is large, phonons of intermediate energy can have a short mean free path of the order of $μ$m. Comparison of different levels of theory indicate that reliable predictions of the phonon mean free path can be made only by using the most advanced many--body method available, namely, DMBT.

cond-mat.other↗

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↗

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.

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