arXiv subjects

U. Ammerahl

Publications and source records attributed to U. Ammerahl.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2014

Polarization-dependent infrared reflectivity study of Sr$_{2.5}$Ca$_{11.5}$Cu$_{24}$O$_{41}$ under pressure: Charge dynamics, charge distribution, and anisotropy

We present a polarization-dependent infrared reflectivity study of the spin-ladder compound Sr$_{2.5}$Ca$_{11.5}$Cu$_{24}$O$_{41}$ under pressure. The optical response is strongly anisotropic, with the highest reflectivity along the ladders/chains (\textbf{E}$\|$c) revealing a metallic character. For the polarization direction perpendicular to the ladder plane, an insulating behavior is observed. With increasing pressure the optical conductivity for \textbf{E}$\|$c shows a strong increase, which is most pronounced below 2000~cm$^{-1}$. According to the spectral weight analysis of the \textbf{E}$\|$c optical conductivity the hole concentration in the ladders increases with increasing pressure and tends to saturate at high pressure. At $\sim$7.5~GPa the number of holes per Cu atom in the ladders has increased by $Δδ$=0.09 ($\pm$0.01), and the Cu valence in the ladders has reached the value +2.33. The optical data suggest that Sr$_{2.5}$Ca$_{11.5}$Cu$_{24}$O$_{41}$ remains electronically highly anisotropic up to high pressure, also at low temperatures.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2014

Magnetisation of hole-doped CuO2 spin chains in Sr14-xCaxCu24O41

We report on magnetisation measurements of Sr14-xCaxCu24O41, with 0 <= x <= 12, in magnetic fields up to 16 T. The low temperature magnetic response of the CuO2 spin chains changes strongly upon doping. For x = 0, the ground state with nearly independent dimers is confirmed. Reduction of the number of holes in the chains through Ca-doping leads to an additional contribution to the magnetisation, which depends linearly on the magnetic field. Remarkably, the slope of this linear contribution increases with the Ca content. We argue that antiferromagnetic spin chains do not account for this behaviour but that the hole dynamics might be involved.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Structural transitions in a doped lanthanum cuprate

139La NMR and relaxation measurements have been performed on La{1.8-x}Eu{0.2}Sr{x}CuO{4} (x = 0.13 and 0.2) single crystals. The temperature dependence of the 139La NMR spectra in all the structural phases (HTT -> LTO -> LTT) reveals the non-vanishing tilt angle of the CuO6 octahedra in the HTT phase, opposed to the case of La{2-x}Sr{x}CuO{4} where the tilt angle disappears immediately above the transition. Since 139La relaxation data provide evidence of the thermodynamic critical fluctuations associated with the structural phase transitions, HTT -> LTO and LTO -> LTT, we conclude that the structural transitions in Eu-doped La{2-x}Sr{x}CuO{4} should be of the order-disorder type rather than of the displacive type observed in La{2-x}Sr{x}CuO{4}. The change of the nature of the structural transitions caused by doping Eu appears to be consistent with the LTO -> LTT transition that is absent in La{2-x}Sr{x}CuO{4}.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2006

Dynamical spin chirality and spin anisotropy in gapped S=1/2 quantum systems

We have studied the spin anisotropy in spin-singlet ground state compounds and the magnetic chirality, as measured by inelastic polarized neutron scattering techniques, in the chain-sublattice of Sr14Cu24O41. In-plane and out of plane magnetic fluctuations are measured to be anisotropic and further discussed in the light of the current hypothesis of spin-orbit coupling. We show that under appropriate conditions of magnetic field and neutron polarization, the \textit{trivial} magnetic chirality selects only one of the Zeeman splitted triplet states for scattering and erases the other one that posses opposite helicity. Our analysis pertains to previous studies on dynamical magnetic chirality and chiral critical exponents, where the ground state is chiral itself, the so-called \textit{non-trivial} dynamical magnetic chirality. As it turns out, both \textit{trivial} and \textit{non-trivial} dynamical magnetic chirality have identical selection rules for inelastic polarized neutron scattering experiments and it is not at all evident that they can be distinguished in a paramagnetic compound.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2006

Magnon Heat Conductivity and Mean Free Paths in Two-Leg Spin Ladders: A Model-Independent Determination

The magnon thermal conductivity $κ_{\mathrm{mag}}$ of the spin ladders in $\rm Sr_{14}Cu_{24-x}Zn_xO_{41}$ has been investigated at low doping levels $x=0$, 0.125, 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75. The Zn-impurities generate nonmagnetic defects which define an upper limit for $l_{\mathrm{mag}}$ and therefore allow a clear-cut relation between $l_{\mathrm{mag}}$ and $κ_{\mathrm{mag}}$ to be established independently of any model. Over a large temperature range we observe a progressive suppression of $κ_{\mathrm{mag}}$ with increasing Zn-content and find in particular that with respect to pure $\rm Sr_{14}Cu_{24}O_{41}$ $κ_{\mathrm{mag}}$ is strongly suppressed even in the case of tiny impurity densities where $l_{\mathrm{mag}}\lesssim 374$~Å. This shows unambiguously that large $l_{\mathrm{mag}}\approx 3000$~Å which have been reported for $\rm Sr_{14}Cu_{24}O_{41}$ and $\rm La_{5}Ca_9Cu_{24}O_{41}$ on basis of a kinetic model are in the correct order of magnitude.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2006

Revisiting the chain magnetism in Sr14Cu24O41: Experimental and numerical results

We study the magnetism of the hole doped CuO2 spin chains in Sr14Cu24O41 by measuring the Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) and the static magnetization M in applied magnetic fields up to 14 T. In this compound, the dimerized ground state and the charge order in the chains are well established. Our experimental data suggest that at low temperatures the Curie-like increase of M as well as the occurrence of the related ESR signal are due to a small amount of paramagnetic centers which are not extrinsic defects but rather unpaired Cu spins in the chain. These observations qualitatively confirm recent ab initio calculations of the ground state properties of the CuO2 chains in Sr14Cu24O41. Our complementary quantum statistical simulations yield that the temperature and field dependence of the magnetization can be well described by an effective Heisenberg model in which the ground state configuration is composed of spin dimers, trimers, and monomers.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2006

Charge density waves in Sr_14-xCa_xCu_24O_41: electron correlations vs. structural effects

We report inelastic light scattering experiments in the spin-chain and ladder system Sr_14-xCa_xCu_24O_41. A depletion of an electronic background is observed for 0 < x < 5 at low temperatures and with light polarization both parallel to the leg and rung directions. This points to the formation of 2D charge density wave in the ladders. Furthermore, the Ca-substitution dependence of the 305- and 249-cm-1 modes, sensitive to the lattice modulations of the respective chain and ladder system, suggests that the charge dynamics in the ladders is strongly influenced by the structural incommensurability.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2004

Magnon-Hole Scattering and Charge Order in $Sr_{14-x}Ca_xCu_{24}O_{41}$

The magnon thermal conductivity $κ_{\mathrm{mag}}$ of the hole doped spin ladders in $\rm Sr_{14-x}Ca_xCu_{24}O_{41}$ has been investigated at low doping levels $x$. The analysis of $κ_{\mathrm{mag}}$ reveals a strong doping and temperature dependence of the magnon mean free path $l_{\mathrm{mag}}$ which is a local probe for the interaction of magnons with the doped holes in the ladders. In particular, this novel approach to studying charge degrees of freedom via spin excitations shows that charge ordering of the holes in the ladders leads to a freezing out of magnon-hole scattering processes.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2003

Phonon thermal conductivity in doped $\rm\bf La_2CuO_4$: Relevant scattering mechanisms

Results of in-plane and out-of-plane thermal conductivity measurements on $\rm La_{1.8-x}Eu_{0.2}Sr_xCuO_4$ ($0\leq x\leq0.2$) single crystals are presented. The most characteristic features of the temperature dependence are a pronounced phonon peak at low temperatures and a steplike anomaly at $T_{LT}$, i.e., at the transition to the low temperature tetragonal phase (LTT-phase), which gradually decrease with increasing Sr-content. Comparison of these findings with the thermal conductivity of $\rm La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4$ and $\rm La_2NiO_4$ clearly reveals that in $\rm La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4$ the most effective mechanism for phonon scattering is impurity-scattering (dopants), as well as scattering by soft phonons that are associated with the lattice instability in the low temperature orthorhombic phase (LTO-phase). There is no evidence that stripe correlations play a major role in suppressing the phonon peak in the thermal conductivity of $\rm La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4$.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2003

Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya Spin Canting in the LTT Phase of La2-x-yEuySrxCuO4

The Cu spin magnetism in La2-x-yEuySrxCuO4 (x<=0.17; y<=0.2) has been studied by means of magnetization measurements up to 14 T. Our results clearly show that in the antiferromagnetic phase Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya (DM)superexchange causes Cu spin canting not only in the LTO phase but also in the LTLO and LTT phases. In La1.8Eu0.2CuO4 the canted DM-moment is about 50% larger than in pure La2CuO4 which we attribute to the larger octahedral tilt angle. We also find clear evidence that the size of the DM-moment does not change significantly at the structural transition at T_LT from LTO to LTLO and LTT. The most important change induced by the transition is a significant reduction of the magnetic coupling between the CuO2 planes. As a consequence, the spin-flip transition of the canted Cu spins which is observed in the LTO phase for magnetic field perpendicular to the CuO2 planes disappears in the LTT phase. The shape of the magnetization curves changes from the well known spin-flip type to a weak-ferromagnet type. However, no spontaneous weak ferromagnetism is observed even at very low temperatures, which seems to indicate that the interlayer decoupling in our samples is not perfect. Nonetheless, a small fraction (<15%) of the DM-moments can be remanently magnetized throughout the entire antiferromagnetically ordered LTT/LTLO phase, i.e. for T<T_LT and x<0.02. It appears that the remanent DM-moment is perpendicular to the CuO2 planes. For magnetic field parallel to the CuO2 planes we find that the critical field of the spin-flop transition decreases in the LTLO phase, which might indicate a competition between different in-plane anisotropies. To study the Cu spin magnetism in La2-x-yEuySrxCuO4, a careful analysis of the Van Vleck paramagnetism of the Eu3+ ions was performed.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2003

Magnon Heat Transport in doped $\rm La_2CuO_4$

We present results of the thermal conductivity of $\rm La_2CuO_4$ and $\rm La_{1.8}Eu_{0.2}CuO_4$ single-crystals which represent model systems for the two-dimensional spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a square lattice. We find large anisotropies of the thermal conductivity, which are explained in terms of two-dimensional heat conduction by magnons within the CuO$_2$ planes. Non-magnetic Zn substituted for Cu gradually suppresses this magnon thermal conductivity $κ_{\mathrm{mag}}$. A semiclassical analysis of $κ_{\mathrm{mag}}$ is shown to yield a magnon mean free path which scales linearly with the reciprocal concentration of Zn-ions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2001

Magnetic excitations in two-leg spin 1/2 ladders: experiment and theory

Magnetic excitations in two-leg S=1/2 ladders are studied both experimentally and theoretically. Experimentally, we report on the reflectivity, the transmission and the optical conductivity sigma(omega) of undoped La_x Ca_14-x Cu_24 O_41 for x=4, 5, and 5.2. Using two different theoretical approaches (Jordan-Wigner fermions and perturbation theory), we calculate the dispersion of the elementary triplets, the optical conductivity and the momentum-resolved spectral density of two-triplet excitations for 0.2 <= J_parallel/J_perpendicular <= 1.2. We discuss phonon-assisted two-triplet absorption, the existence of two-triplet bound states, the two-triplet continuum, and the size of the exchange parameters.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2001

ESR study of (Sr,La,Ca)_{14}Cu_{24}O_{41}

We report an electron spin resonance (ESR) study of single crystals of the spin-chain spin-ladder compound (Sr,La,Ca)_{14}Cu_{24}O_{41}. The data suggest that in intrinsically hole doped Sr_{14-x}Ca_xCu_{24}O_{41} only a small amount of holes is transferred from the chains to the ladders with increasing x, resulting in a crossover from spin dimerized to uniform spin chains. In the samples of La_{14-x}Ca_xCu_{24}O_{41} with reduced hole content a very broad signal is observed in the paramagnetic state, indicative of a surprisingly strong anisotropy of the nearest neighbor exchange in the chains.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2001

Optical spectroscopy of (La,Ca)14Cu24O41 spin ladders: comparison of experiment and theory

Transmission and reflectivity of La_x Ca_14-x Cu_24 O_41 two-leg spin-1/2 ladders were measured in the mid-infrared regime between 500 and 12000 1/cm. This allows us to determine the optical conductivity sigma_1 directly and with high sensitivity. Here we show data for x=4 and 5 with the electrical field polarized parallel to the rungs (E||a) and to the legs (E||c). Three characteristic peaks are identified as magnetic excitations by comparison with two different theoretical calculations.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2001

Magnon Heat Transport in (Sr,La)_14Cu_24O_41

We have measured the thermal heat conductivity kappa of the compounds Sr_14Cu_24O_41 and Ca_9La_5Cu_24O_41 containing doped and undoped spin ladders, respectively. We find a huge anisotropy of both, the size and the temperature dependence of kappa which we interpret in terms of a very large heat conductivity due to the magnetic excitations of the one-dimensional spin ladders. This magnon heat conductivity decreases with increasing hole doping of the ladders. The magnon heat transport is analyzed theoretically using a simple kinetic model. From this analysis we determine the spin gap and the temperature dependent mean free path of the magnons which ranges by several thousand angstroms at low temperature. The relevance of several scattering channels for the magnon transport is discussed.

cond-mat↗

arXiv2001

Observation of two-magnon bound states in the two-leg ladders of (Ca,La)14Cu24O41

Phonon-assisted 2-magnon absorption is studied at T=4 K in the spin-1/2 two-leg ladders of Ca_14-x La_x Cu_24 O_41 (x=5 and 4) for polarization of the electrical field parallel to the legs and the rungs, respectively. Two peaks at about 2140 and 2800 1/cm reflect van-Hove singularities in the density of states of the strongly dispersing 2-magnon singlet bound state, and a broad peak at about 4000 1/cm is identified with the 2-magnon continuum. Two different theoretical approaches (Jordan-Wigner fermions and perturbation theory) describe the data very well for J_parallel = 1050 - 1100 1/cm and J_parallel / J_perp = 1 - 1.1. A striking similarity of the high-energy continuum absorption of the ladders and of the undoped high T_c cuprates is observed.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2001

Strong anisotropy of superexchange in the copper-oxygen chains of La_{14-x}Ca_{x}Cu_{24}O_{41}

Electron spin resonance data of Cu^{2+} ions in La_{14-x}Ca_{x}Cu_{24}O_{41} crystals (x=9,11,12) reveal a very large width of the resonance line in the paramagnetic state. This signals an unusually strong anisotropy of ~10% of the isotropic Heisenberg superexchange in the Cu-O chains of this compound. The strong anisotropy can be explained by the specific geometry of two symmetrical 90 degree Cu-O-Cu bonds, which boosts the importance of orbital degrees of freedom. Our data show the apparent limitations of the applicability of an isotropic Heisenberg model to the low dimensional cuprates.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2000

Hole distribution for (Sr,Ca,Y,La)_14 Cu_24 O_41 ladder compounds studied by x-ray absorption spectroscopy

The unoccupied electronic structure for the Sr_14Cu_24O_41 family of two-leg ladder compounds was investigated for different partial substitutions of Sr^2+ by Ca^2+, leaving the nominal hole count constant, and by Y^3+ or La^3+, reducing the nominal hole count from its full value of 6 per formula unit. Using polarization-dependent x-ray absorption spectroscopy on single crystals, hole states on both the chain and ladder sites could be studied. While for intermediate hole counts all holes reside on O sites of the chains, a partial hole occupation on the ladder sites in orbitals oriented along the legs is observed for the fully doped compound Sr_14Cu_24O_41. On substitution of Ca for Sr orbitals within the ladder planes but perpendicular to the legs receive some hole occupation as well.

cond-mat.str-el↗