arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to K. Uchinokura.
A transition-metal oxide NaCo_2O_4 is a layered oxide in which CoO_2 and Na alternately stack along the c axis. Recently we have found that this compound shows unusually large thermopower with low resistivity, which is comparable to those of Bi_2Te_3. The negative transverse magnetoresistance and the strongly temperature-dependent Hall coefficient suggest that electron correlation dominates the conduction mechanism in NaCo_2O_4.
The new antiferromagnetic (AF) compound BaCu_2Si_2O_7 is studied by magnetic susceptibility and neutron scattering techniques. The observed behavior is dominated by the presence of loosely coupled S=1/2 chains with the intrachain AF exchange constant J = 24.1 meV. Long-range Neel ordering is observed below Tn = 9.2 K. The results are discussed within the framework of the Mean Field-RPA model for weakly interacting quantum spin chains.
New neutron diffraction and inelastic scattering experiments are used to investigate in detail the field dependence of the magnetic structure and low-energy spin wave spectrum of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya helimagnet Ba_2 Cu Ge_2 O_7. The results suggest that the previously proposed model for the magnetism of this compound (an ideal sinusoidal spin spiral, stabilized by isotropic exchange and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions) needs to be refined. Both new and previously published data can be quantitatively explained by taking into account the Kaplan-Shekhtman-Entin-Wohlman-Aharony (KSEA) term, a special magnetic anisotropy term that was predicted to always accompany Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions in insulators.
New neutron diffraction and inelastic neutron scattering experiments on Ba2CuGe2O7 suggest that the previously suggested model for the magnetism of this material (an ideal sinusoidal spin spiral, stabilized by isotropic exchange and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions) needs to be refined. Both new and previously published experimental results can be quantitatively explained by taking into account the Shekhtman-Entin-Wohlman-Aharony (SEA) term, a special anisotropy term that was predicted to always accompany Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions in insulators. Our experimental results present the first clear evidence to that SEA interactions can lead to substantial observable effects in a real magnetic system.
We have measured the magnetic susceptibility of single-crystal Cu_{1-x}Ni_xGeO_3 to study doping effects of the magnetic impurity (Ni^{2+} has S=1 spin) on the inorganic spin-Peierls (SP) material CuGeO_3. We observed the disappearance of the SP transition and the abrupt increase of the Neel temperature from 2.5 to 3.4 K at x nearly equal to 0.020, which indicates the first-order phase transition between the dimerized-antiferromagnetic (D-AF) and the uniform-antiferromagnetic (U-AF) phases, as was discovered in Mg-doped (Mg^{2+} is nonmagnetic) system [T. Masuda et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 4566 (1998)]. This indicates that this transition is universal for the doping to Cu site. We also found another phase with the easy axis in the a-c plane in low x region.
We have measured the magnetic susceptibilities of single crystals of Cu_{1-x}Zn_xGeO_3 with extremely low Zn concentration (x) lower than x=5x10^{-3} at very low temperatures to investigate the spin-Peierls and antiferromagnetic transitions. The results show that the undoped CuGeO_3 has no antiferromagnetic phase down to 12 mK and there exists an antiferromagnetic long-range order with the easy axis along the $c$ axis for x down to 1.12(2)x10^{-3}. The minimum observed Neel temperature was 0.0285 K for x=1.12(2)x10^{-3} sample. From the concentration dependence of the Neel temperature it is concluded that there is no critical concentration for the occurrence of the antiferromagnetic long-range order.
We discovered a first-order phase transition between dimerized-antiferromagnetic and uniform-antiferromagnetic phases in impurity-doped spin-Peierls (SP) cuprate Cu{1-x}MgxGeO3. As impurity concentration increases, linear reduction of SP transition temperature (T{SP}) and linear increase of Neel temperature (TN) are observed up to x = 0.023. At this critical concentration (xc) SP transition suddenly disappears and TN jumps discontinuously. The peak of the susceptibility at xc around TN is not so sharp as those at other concentrations, which indicates the phase separation of low and high concentration phases. These results indicate the existence of the first-order phase transition between dimerized-antiferromagnetic and uniform-antiferromagnetic long-range orders.
The magnetic structure of Ba_2CuGe_2O_7 is investigated by neutron diffraction in magnetic fields applied along several directions in the $(a,b)$ plane of the crystal. In relatively weak fields, $H\lesssim 0.5$~T, the propagation vector of the spin-spiral rotates to form a finite angle with the field direction. This angle depends on the orientation of $H$ itself. The rotation of the propagation vector is accompanied by a re-orientation of the plane of spin rotation in the spiral. The observed behaviour is well described by a continuous-limit form of a free energy functional that includes exchange and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions, as well as the Zeeman energy and an empirical anisotropy term.
We report an observation of a commensurate-incommensurate phase transition in the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya spiral antiferromagnet Ba_2 Cu Ge_2 O_7. The transition is induced by an external magnetic field applied along the c-axis of the tetragonal structure, i. e., in the plane of spin rotation. Bulk magnetic measurements and neutron diffraction experiments show that the transition occurs in a critical field Hc=2.1T. Experimental results for the period of the magnetic structure and magnetization as functions of magnetic field are in quantitative agreement with our exact analytical solution for Dzyaloshinskii's model of commensurate-incommensurate transitions in spiral magnets.
Comprehensive neutron scattering studies were carried out on a series of high-quality single crystals of Cu_{1-x}Zn_xGeO_3. The Zn concentration, x, was determined for each sample using Electron Probe Micro-Analysis. The measured Zn concentrations were found to be 40-80% lower than the nominal values. Nevertheless the measured concentrations cover a wide range which enables a systematic study of the effects due to Zn-doping. We have confirmed the coexistence of spin-Peierls (SP) and antiferromagnetic (AF) orderings at low temperatures and the measured phase diagram is presented. Most surprisingly, long-range AF ordering occurs even in the lowest available Zn concentration, x=0.42%, which places important constraints on theoretical models of the AF-SP coexistence. Magnetic excitations are also examined in detail. The AF excitations are sharp at low energies and show no considerable broadening as x increases indicating that the AF ordering remains long ranged for x up to 4.7%. On the other hand, the SP phase exhibits increasing disorder as x increases, as shown from the broadening of the SP excitations as well as the dimer reflection peaks.
We report an observation of a commensurate-incommensurate phase transition in a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya spiral magnet Ba_2CuGe_2O_7. The transition is induced by applying a magnetic field in the plane of spin rotation. In this experiment we have direct control over the strength of the commensurate potential, while the preferred incommensurate period of the spin system remains unchanged. Experimental results for the period of the soliton lattice and bulk magnetization as a function of external magnetic field are in quantitative agreement with theory.
Bulk magnetic measurements and inelastic neutron scattering were used to investigate the spin-singlet ground state and magnetic gap excitations in BaCuSi2O6, a quasi-2-dimensional antiferromagnet with a bilayer structure. The results are well described by a model based on weakly interacting antiferromagnetic dimers. A strongly temperature-dependent dispersion in the gap modes was found. We suggest that the observed excitations are analogous to magneto-excitons in light rare-earth compounds, but are an intrinsic property of a simple Heisenberg Hamiltonian for the S=1/2 magnetic bilayer.
A series of high-quality single crystals of Cu$_{1-x}$Zn$_x$GeO$_3$ have been examined by neutron scattering techniques. An antiferromagnetic (AF) ordering is confirmed for samples with $x\geq 0.02$, in complete agreement with previous reports. We show that the spin-Peierls (SP) phase transition persists to 6\% Zn, whereas previous magnetic susceptibility measurements reported a deterioration of the SP transition above 2\% Zn. We present some details of the successive transitions upon lowering temperature into the spin-Peierls phase which is followed by a transition into an antiferromagnetically ordered phase. Below the Néel temperature we observe the coexistence of the SP lattice dimerization and AF states.
Neutron scattering measurements on a large single crystal of CuGeO$_3$ have been used to determine the temperature-dependence of the spin-Peierls energy gap. While the power law behavior of the intensity of structural superlattice peaks is well fit by $I({\rm T})\propto ({\rm T}_c - {\rm T})^{2β}$ with an exponent of $β=0.33$, the exponent for the temperature dependence of the energy gap is significantly smaller than expected for conventional spin-Peierls materials. Usual scaling relations relate the energy gap to the superlattice reflection intensity as $Δ({\rm T}) \propto I^a$ with $a=1/3$; the present results suggest an exponent of $a\approx 1/6$ for CuGeO$_3$. Additional scattering cross-section is observed in constant-$q$ and constant-$E$ scans creating a long `tail' extending to higher energies relating to a proposed scattering continuum.