arXiv subjects

S. Francoual

Publications and source records attributed to S. Francoual.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Ho and Fe magnetic ordering in multiferroic HoFe3(BO3)O4

Resonant and non-resonant X-ray scattering studies on HoFe3(BO3)O4 reveal competing magnetic ordering of Ho and Fe moments. Temperature and X-ray polarization dependent measurements employed at the Ho L3 edge directly reveal a spiral spin order of the induced Ho moments in the ab-plane propagating along the c-axis, a screw-type magnetic structure. At about 22.5 K the Fe spins are observed to rotate within the basal plane inducing spontaneous electric polarization, P. Components of P in the basal plane and along the c-axis can be scaled with the separated magnetic X-ray scattering intensities of the Fe and Ho magnetic sublattices, respectively.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

High-magnetic field lattice length changes in URu2Si2

We report high magnetic field (up to 45 T) c-axis thermal expansion and magnetostriction experiments on URu2Si2 single crystals. The sample length change associated with the transition to the hidden order phase becomes increasingly discontinous as the magnetic field is raised above 25 T. The re-entrant ordered phase III is clearly observed in both the thermal expansion and magnetostriction above 36 T, in good agreement with previous results. The sample length is also discontinuous at the boundaries of this phase, mainly at the upper boundary. A change in the sign of the coefficient of thermal-expansion is observed at the metamagnetic transition (B_M = 38 T) which is likely related to the existence of a quantum critical end point.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Strong coupling of Sm and Fe magnetism in SmFeAsO as revealed by magnetic x-ray scattering

The magnetic structures adopted by the Fe and Sm sublattices in SmFeAsO have been investigated using element specific x-ray resonant and non-resonant magnetic scattering techniques. Between 110 and 5 K, the Sm and Fe moments are aligned along the c and a directions, respectively according to the same magnetic representation $Γ_{5}$ and the same propagation vector (1, 0, 0.5). Below 5 K, magnetic order of both sublattices change to a different magnetic structure and the Sm moments reorder in a magnetic unit cell equal to the chemical unit cell. Modeling of the temperature dependence for the Sm sublattice as well as a change in the magnetic structure below 5 K provide a clear evidence of a surprisingly strong coupling between the two sublattices, and indicate the need to include anisotropic exchange interactions in models of SmFeAsO and related compounds.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2008

Fractalization drives crystalline states in a frustrated spin system

We measure a sequence of quantum Hall-like plateaux at 1/q: 9 >= q >= 2 and p/q = 2/9 fractions in the magnetisation with increasing magnetic field in the geometrically frustrated spin system SrCu2(BO3)2. We find that the entire observed sequence of plateaux is reproduced by solving the Hofstadter problem on the system lattice when short-range repulsive interactions are included, thus providing a sterling demonstration of bosons confined by a magnetic and lattice potential mimicking fermions in the extreme quantum limit.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2003

Sound modes broadening in quasicrystals

We propose a simple phenomenological model to analyze vibrational characteristics of quasicrystals (QCs). The interpretation of the obtained recently data is based on the existence of almost dispersionless optical modes most probably related to the specific clusters which constitute the characteristic building blocks of any QC structure. We generalize to QCs the well - known Akhiezer mechanism, which in our case is related to a ''long wave'' disturbance of the quasicrystalline optical modes by the propagating sound modes. At higher wave vectors strong hybridization of acoustic and optical modes takes place, and it leads to a more steep broadening dependence on wave vectors, and besides the excitation can no longer be described as a single acoustic mode with a well defined wave vector.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗