We have used a combination of neutron resonant spin-echo and triple-axis spectroscopies to determine the energy, fine structure, and linewidth of the magnon resonance in the model spin-1/2 ladder antiferromagnet IPA-CuCl_3 at temperatures T << Delta_0 /k_B, where Delta_0 is the spin gap at T=0. In this low-temperature regime we find that the results deviate substantially from the predictions of the non-linear sigma model proposed as a description of magnon excitations in one-dimensional quantum magnets and attribute these deviations to real-space and spin-space anisotropies in the spin Hamiltonian as well as scattering of magnon excitations from a dilute density of impurities. These effects are generic to experimental realizations of one-dimensional quantum magnets.
Three magnon bound states in all total spin sectors of general nonintegrable exactly rung-dimerized spin ladder are obtained by Bethe Ansatz. Basing on this result a dispersion law for $m$-magnon ($m>3$) bound states is conjectured. It is suggested that (depending on correlations between coupling constants) a behavior of the gas parameter (density of rung-triplets) on the boundary of the rung-dimerized phase may either be smooth or have a leap.
We consider the two-chain Heisenberg ladder with antiferromagnetic interactions. Our approach is based on the description of spin excitations as triplets above a strong-coupling singlet ground state. It is shown that interaction with dynamic phonons drastically changes the dispersion of the elementary triplet excitation (magnon) and the spin structure factor. It is also shown that a new triplet excitation appears in the spectrum: the bound state of a magnon and a phonon.
An exactly solvable effective model is suggested for an asymmetric spin ladder with dimerized rungs. Magnon mode truncation originated from magnon decay (recently observed in the 1D compound ${\rm IPA-CuCl}_3$) is naturally described within this model. Using Bethe Ansatze we described a one-magnon sector and obtained relations between interaction constants of the model and experimentally observable quantities such as the gap and truncation energies, spin velocity and the truncation wave vector. It is also shown that structure factor turns to zero at the truncation point.
Inelastic neutron scattering is used to measure spin excitations in fully deuterated single crystal samples of the strong-leg antiferromagnetic S=1/2 spin ladder compound (C$_7$H$_{10}$N)$_2$CuBr$_4$. Sharp resolution-limited magnons are observed across the entire one-dimensional Brillouin zone. The results validate the previously proposed {\it symmetric} spin ladder model and provide a reliable estimate of the relevant exchange interactions.
One-magnon problem for spin-ladders with exact singlet-rung ground state in arbitrary oriented constant and staggered magnetic fields is studied. For two special configurations when the both fields are parallel or perpendicular to each other the exact formulas for eigenstates and eigenvectors are presented. In the parallel case the one-magnon contribution to the ESR absorption line shape is obtained. The latter is non-Lorentzian, has finite range and a gap around resonance. For low fields both the range of the spectrum and the width of the gap are controlled by the width of the one-magnon zone…
We investigate the resonant two-magnon Raman scattering in the two-dimensional (2D) and ladder-type Mott insulators by using a half-filled Hubbard model in the strong coupling limit. By performing numerical diagonalization calculations for small clusters, we find that the model can reproduce the experimental features in the 2D that the Raman intensity is enhanced when the incoming photon energy is not near the absorption edge but well above it. In the ladder-type Mott insulators, the Raman intensity is found to resonate with absorption spectrum in contrast to the 2D system. The difference betw…
We measure by inelastic neutron scattering the spin excitation spectra as a function of applied magnetic field in the quantum spin-ladder material (C5H12N)2CuBr4. Discrete magnon modes at low fields in the quantum disordered phase and at high fields in the saturated phase contrast sharply with a spinon continuum at intermediate fields characteristic of the Luttinger-liquid phase. By tuning the magnetic field, we drive the fractionalization of magnons into spinons and, in this deconfined regime, observe both commensurate and incommensurate continua.
We have used a combination of neutron resonant spin-echo and triple-axis spectroscopies to determine the energy and linewidth of the magnon resonance in IPA-Cu(Cl$_{0.95}$Br$_{0.05}$)$_3$, a model spin-1/2 ladder antiferromagnet where Br substitution induces bond randomness. We find that the bond defects induce a blueshift, $δΔ$, and broadening, $δΓ$, of the magnon gap excitation compared to the pure compound. At temperatures exceeding the energy scale of the inter-ladder exchange interactions, $δΔ$ and $δΓ$ are temperature independent within the experimental error, in agreement with Matthiess…
We suggest a family of spin-ladder models with exact singlet-rung vacuum. In addition to the terms describing interactions along legs and rungs the Hamiltonian has frustration and cyclic terms. Using coordinate Bethe ansatze all one- and two-dimensional states are constructed. The explicit formula for zero-temperature Raman scattering cross section is derived. The corresponding line-shapes are strongly asymmetric and have no more than one van-Hove singularity. The results are in good agreement with experimental data.
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 …
We study the excitation spectrum of the two-leg antiferromagnetic S=1/2 Heisenberg ladder. Our approach is based on the description of the excitations as triplets above a strong-coupling singlet ground state. The quasiparticle spectrum is calculated by treating the excitations as a dilute Bose gas with infinite on-site repulsion. We find singlet (S=0) and triplet (S=1) two-particle bound states of the elementary triplets. We argue that bound states generally exist in any dimerized quantum spin model.
Three-magnon problem for exactly rung-dimerized spin ladder is brought up separately at all total spin sectors. At first a special duality transformation of the $\rm Schr\ddot odinger$ equation is found within general outlook. Then the problem is treated within Coordinate Bethe Ansatze. A straightforward approach is developed to obtain pure scattering states. At values S=0 and S=3 of total spin the $\rm Schr\ddot odinger$ equation has the form inherent in the $XXZ$ chain. For $S=1,2$ solvability holds only in five previously found {\it completely integrable} cases. Nevertheless a partial S=1 B…
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.
We present a theory of phonon-assisted optical two-magnon absorption in two-leg spin-ladders. Based on the strong intra-rung-coupling limit we show that collective excitations of total spin S=0, 1 and 2 exist outside of the two-magnon continuum. It is demonstrated that the singlet collective state has a clear signature in the optical spectrum.
The effect of disorder is studied on the field-induced quantum phase transition in the frustrated spin-ladder compound H8C4SO2Cu2(Cl[1-x]Brx)4 using bulk magnetic and thermodynamic measurements. The parent material (x=0) is a quantum spin liquid, which in applied fields is known to form a magnon condensate with long-range helimagnetic order. We show that bond randomness introduced by a chemical substitution on the non-magnetic halogene site destroys this phase transition at very low concentrations, already for x=0.01. The extreme fragility of the magnon condensate is attributed to random frust…
Motivated by the ever-increasing experimental effort devoted to the properties of frustrated quantum magnets in a magnetic field, we present a careful and detailed theoretical analysis of a one-dimensional version of this problem, a frustrated ladder with a magnetization plateau at m=1/2. We show that even for purely isotropic Heisenberg interactions, the magnetization curve exhibits a rather complex behavior that can be fully accounted for in terms of simple elementary excitations. The introduction of anisotropic interactions (e.g., Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions) modifies significantly t…
The weakly coupled quasi-one-dimensional spin ladder compound (CH$_3$)$_2$CHNH$_3$CuCl$_3$ is studied by neutron scattering in magnetic fields exceeding the critical field of Bose-Einstein condensation of magnons. Commensurate long-range order and the associated Goldstone mode are detected and found to be similar to those in a reference 3D quantum magnet. However, for the upper two massive magnon branches the observed behavior is totally different, culminating in a drastic collapse of excitation bandwidth beyond the transition point.
We argue that the Raman intensity in a spin S two-leg spin-ladder has a pseudo-resonance peak, whose width is very small at large S. The pseudo-resonance originates from the existence of a local minimum in the magnon excitation spectrum, and is located slightly below twice the magnon energy at the minimum. The physics behind the peak is similar to the excitonic scenario for the neutron and Raman resonances in a d-wave superconductor.
We present the Raman-scattering spectra of CaV2O5 and MgV2O5. The magnetic contribution in the Raman spectra of CaV2O5 is found in the form of a strong asymmetric line, centered at 2Delta, with a tail on the high-energy side. Our analysis of its spectral shape shows that the magnetic ordering in CaV2O5 can be described using a S=1/2 two-leg ladder Heisenberg antiferromagnetic model with Jparallel/Jperp = 0.1, and a small interladder exchange. The spin gap and exchange constant are estimated to be Delta = 400 cm-1 (570 K) and Jperp = 640 K. No magnon bound states are found. In contrast to CaV2O…
The $S=1/2$ quantum spin ladder system with the anisotropic ferromagnetic exchange interaction on the rung under magnetic field is investigated using the numerical diagonalization and the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) analyses. It is found that the nematic-spin-correlation-dominant Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (TLL) appears in some high magnetic field. It is included in the TLL phase where the two-magnon bound state is realized. For some suitable parameters, after the field-induced phase transition from this two-magnon-bound TLL phase to the single-magnon TLL one, the re-entrant tra…
This response on a Comment on Reference 2 discusses the space group Fmm2 determination of the low temperature structure of NaV2O5. We show that while conventional crystallography is consistent with 'zig-zag' charge ordering of half of the ladders, recent spectroscopic measurements suggest that the symmetry is lower than Fmm2. We suggest space group C2, consistent with full 'zig-zag' charge ordering of all the ladders.
In a magnetic substance the gap in the Raman spectrum, Delta_R, is approximatively twice the value of the neutron scattering gap, Delta_S, if the the magnetic excitations (magnons) are only weakly interacting. But for CuGeO_3 the experimentally observed ratio Delta_R/Delta_S is approximatively 1.49-1.78, indicating attractive magnon-magnon interactions in the quasi-1D Spin-Peierls compound CuGe_3. We present numerical estimates for Delta_R/Delta_S from exact diagonalization studies for finite chains and find agreement with experiment for intermediate values of the frustration parameter alpha. …
Spin-ladder compounds make interesting analogs of the high-temperature superconductors, because they contain layers of nearly one-dimensional "ladders" consisting of a square array of copper and oxygen atoms. Increasing the number of legs in the ladders provides a step-wise approach toward the two-dimensional copper-oxygen plane, that structure believed to be a key to high temperature superconductivity. Short-range spin correlations in ladders have been predicted to lead to formation of hole pairs favorable for superconductivity, once enough holes are introduced onto the ladders by doping. Ind…
We studied the effects of the incommensurate structural modulations on the ladder subsystem of the $Sr\_{14-x}Ca\_{x}Cu\_{24}O\_{41}$ family of compounds using ab-initio explicitly-correlated calculations. From these calculations we derived $t-J$ model as a function of the fourth crystallographic coordinate $τ$ describing the incommensurate modulations. It was found that in the highly calcium-doped system, the on-site orbital energies are strongly modulated along the ladder legs. On the contrary the two sites of the ladder rungs are iso-energetic and the holes are thus expected to be delocaliz…
We have measured the magnetization of the organic compound BIP-BNO (3,5'-bis(N-tert-butylaminoxyl)-3',5-dibromobiphenyl) up to 76 T where the magnetization is saturated. The S = 1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg two-leg spin-ladder model accounts for the obtained experimental data regarding the magnetization curve, which is clarified using the quantum Monte Carlo method. The exchange constants on the rung and the side rail of the ladder are estimated to be J(rung)/kB = 65.7 K and J(leg)/kB = 14.1 K, respectively, deeply in the strong coupling region: J(rung)/J(leg) > 1.
We study the spin-1/2 two-leg Heisenberg ladder with four-spin ring exchanges under a magnetic field. We introduce an exact duality transformation which is an extension of the spin-chirality duality developed previously and yields a new self-dual surface in the parameter space. We then determine the magnetic phase diagram using the numerical approaches of the density-matrix renormalization-group and exact diagonalization methods. We demonstrate the appearance of a magnetization plateau and the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid with dominant vector-chirality quasi-long-range order for a wide parameter …
We investigated the iron-based ladder compounds (Ba,Cs)Fe$_2$Se$_3$. Their parent compounds, BaFe$_2$Se$_3$ and CsFe$_2$Se$_3$, have different space groups, formal valences of Fe and magnetic structures. Electrical resistivity, specific heat, magnetic susceptibility, X-ray diffraction and powder neutron diffraction measurements were conducted to obtain temperature and composition phase diagram of this system. Block magnetism observed in BaFe$_2$Se$_3$ is drastically suppressed with Cs doping. In contrast, stripe magnetism observed in CsFe$_2$Se$_3$ is not so fragile against Ba doping. New type…
The ground state of the two-leg Heisenberg ladder is identified as an RVB type spin liquid, which is generated by Gutzwiller projection of tight-binding bands with flux pi per plaquet. Explicit trial wave functions for the magnon and hole excitations are formulated in terms of spinons and holons.
Magnetic excitations in the spin-ladder material (C$_5$H$_{12}$N)$_2$CuBr$_4$ [BPCB] are probed by high-resolution multi-frequency electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy. Our experiments provide a direct evidence for a biaxial anisotropy ($\sim 5\%$ of the dominant exchange interaction), that is in contrast to a fully isotropic spin-ladder model employed for this system previously. It is argued that this anisotropy in BPCB is caused by spin-orbit coupling, which appears to be important for describing magnetic properties of this compound. The zero-field zone-center gap in the excitation spe…
We investigate magnetic excitations in the frustrated zigzag spin-1/2 chain compound $β$-TeVO$_4$ by inelastic neutron scattering. In the magnetically ordered ground state, the excitation spectrum exhibits coexisting magnon dispersion, characteristic of long-range magnetic order, and a spinon-like continuum that prevails above 2 meV, indicating the dominance of intrachain interactions. Combining linear-spin-wave-theory and pre-calculated spinon-continuum results, we reproduce the experimental spectrum. Our analysis offers a minimal exchange-network model which determines dominant intrachain in…
We analyze the effects of different coupling anisotropies in spin-1/2 ladder on the Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) shift. Combining a perturbative expression in the anisotropies with temperature dependent Density Matrix Renormalization Group (T-DMRG) computation of the short range correlations, we provide the full temperature and magnetic field evolution of the ESR paramagnetic shift. We show that for well chosen parameters the ESR shift can be in principle used to extract quantitatively the anisotropies and, as an example, discuss the material $\mathrm{(C_5H_{12}N)_2CuBr_4}$ (BPCB).
Experimental and theoretical studies of the unoccupied electronic structure of CaCu2O3 single crystals have been performed using polarization-dependent x-ray absorption spectroscopy and band structure calculations. The measured hole distribution shows an unusual large number of holes in orbitals parallel to the interlayer direction which is in agreement with the theoretical analysis. CaCu2O3 deviates significantly from the standard pd-sigma cuprate picture. The corresponding strong interlayer exchange is responsible for the missing spin gap generic for other two-leg ladder cuprates.
We report the direct observation by inelastic neutron scattering experiments of a spin triplet of magnetic excitations in the response associated with the ladders in the composite cuprate Sr14Cu24O41. This appears as a peak at q_{Q1D}=πand energy Δ_1=32.5 meV, and we conjecture that all the triplets making up this conspicuous peak have the same phase and therefore interpret it as the signature of the occurrence of quantum coherence along the ladder direction between entangled spin pairs. From the comparison with previous neutron and x-ray data, we conclude that the temperature evolution of thi…
The title compounds have dominant ferromagnetic (FM) exchange interactions within one-dimensional (1D) half-twist ladders of s =1/2 Cu2^{+} ions and antiferromagnetic(AFM) interactions between ladders, leading to ordered 3D phases at temperatures below 20K. Here we show that a microscopic 1D model of the paramagnetic (PM) phase combined with a phenomenological model based on sublattice magnetization describes the observed temperature and field dependent magnetism. The model identifies AFM, spin-flop (SF) and PM phases whose boundaries have sharp features in the experimental magnetization M(T,H…
The $S=1/2$ spin ladder compound (C$_5$H$_{12}$N)$_2$CuBr$_4$ (BPCB) is studied by means of high-resolution inelastic neutron scattering. In agreement with previous studies we find a band of triplet excitations with a spin gap of $\sim0.8$~meV and a bandwidth of $\sim0.6$~meV. In addition, we observe a distinct splitting of the triplet band of $50(1)$~$μ$eV or $40(2)$~$μ$eV at the band minimum or maximum, respectively. By comparison to a strong coupling expansion calculation of the triplet dispersion for a spin ladder with anisotropic exchange, weakly anisotropic leg interactions are identifie…
The thermodynamic behavior of the spin $S=1/2$ antiferromagnetic two-leg ladder compound $(C_{5}H_{12}N)_{2} CuBr_{4}$ in a uniform magnetic field is studied using numerical and analytical approaches. The entropy $S(H,T)$ and specific heat $C(H,T)$ are calculated. The specific heat shows various behaviors in different regions of the magnetic field. The field-dependence of the specific heat is almost symmetric about the average of quantum critical fields in complete agreement with experimental results. In addition, it is found that during an adiabatic demagnetization process, temperature drops …
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 $\rm Sr_{14}Cu_…
The quasi-one-dimensional spin ladder compounds, BaFe$_2$S$_3$ and BaFe$_2$Se$_3$, are investigated by infrared spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. We observe strong anisotropic electronic properties and an optical gap in the leg direction that is gradually filled above the antiferromagnetic (afm) ordering temperature, turning the systems into a metallic phase. Combining the optical data with the DFT calculations we associate the optical gap feature with the $p$-$d$ transition that appears only in the afm ordered state. Hence, the insulating ground state along the le…
We study the magnetic, structural, and electronic properties of the recently discovered iron- based superconductor BaFe2S3 based on density functional theory with the generalized gradient approximation. The calculations show that the magnetic alignment in which the spins are coupled ferromagnetically along the rung and antiferromagnetically along the leg is the most stable in the possible magnetic structure within an Fe-ladder and is further stabilized with the periodicity char- acterized by the wave vector Q=(pi,pi,0), leading to the experimentally observed magnetic ground state. The magnetic…
We analyze the formation of multi-particle bound states in ladders with frustrated kinetic energy in two component bosonic and two component fermionic systems. We focus on the regime of light doping relative to insulating states at half-filling, spin polarization close to 100 percent, and strong repulsive interactions. A special feature of these systems is that the binding energy scales with single particle tunneling $t$ rather than exchange interactions, since effective attraction arises from alleviating kinetic frustration. For two component Fermi systems on a zigzag ladder we find a bound s…
We present experiments on the magnetic field-dependent thermal transport in the spin-1/2 ladder system (C$_5$H$_{12}$N)$_2$CuBr$_4$. The thermal conductivity $κ(B)$ is only weakly affected by the field-induced transitions between the gapless Luttinger-liquid state realized for $B_{c1}< B < B_{c2}$ and the gapped states, suggesting the absence of a direct contribution of the spin excitations to the heat transport. We observe, however, that the thermal conductivity is strongly suppressed by the magnetic field deeply within the Luttinger-liquid state. These surprising observations are discussed i…
Since the discovery of pressure-induced superconductivity in the two-leg ladder system BaFe$_2X_3$ ($X$=S, Se), with the 3$d$ iron electronic density $n = 6$, the quasi-one-dimensional iron-based ladders have attracted considerable attention. Here, we use Density Functional Theory (DFT) to predict that the novel $n = 6$ iron ladder BaFe$_2$Te$_3$ could be stable with a similar crystal structure as BaFe$_2$Se$_3$. Our results also indicate that BaFe$_2$Te$_3$ will display the complex 2$\times$2 Block-type magnetic order. Due to the magnetic striction effects of this Block order, BaFe$_2$Te$_3$ …
The field induced quantum phase transitions in the disorder-free and disordered samples of the spin ladder material (CH_3)_2CHNH_3Cu(Cl_{1-x}Br_x)_3 are studied using magnetic calorimetry and magnetic neutron diffraction on single crystal samples. Drastically different critical indexes and correlation lengths in the high field phase are found for two different orientations of the applied field. It is argued that for a field applied along the crystallographic c axis, as in previous studies [1], the transition is best described as an Ising transition in random field and anisotropy, rather than a…
The compound GdPtBi is known as a material where the non-trivial topology of electronic bands interplays with an antiferromagnetic order, which leads to the emergence of many interesting magnetotransport phenomena. Although the magnetic structure of the compound has previously been reliably determined, the magnetic interactions responsible for this type of order remained controversial. In the present study, we employed time-of-flight inelastic neutron scattering to map out the low-temperature spectrum of spin excitations in single-crystalline GdPtBi. The observed spectra reveal two spectrally …
We report the observation of a frequency ($ω$) and temperature (T) -dependent loss peak in $χ''$ and accompanying dispersion in $χ'$ from microwave (2-18GHz) measurements of the complex susceptibility $\tildeχ(ω, T)=χ'+iχ''$ of $Sr_{14-x}Ca_{x}Cu_{24}O_{41}$. We associate this phenomenon with a rapid decrease of spin disorder and corresponding spin relaxation rate, representing a ``spin freezing transition'' accompanying charge ordering which occurs at temperatures $\sim 250K$. Our results enable direct quantitative measurements of the spin relaxation rate, and yield information on spin dynami…
The crystal structure and the magnetism of BaMn$_2$O$_3$ have been studied by thermodynamic and by diffraction techniques using large single crystals and powders. BaMn$_2$O$_3$ is a realization of a $S = 5/2$ spin ladder as the magnetic interaction is dominant along 180$^\circ$ Mn-O-Mn bonds forming the legs and the rungs of a ladder. The temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility exhibits well-defined maxima for all directions proving the low-dimensional magnetic character in BaMn$_2$O$_3$. The susceptibility and powder neutron diffraction data, however, show that BaMn$_2$O$_3$ exh…
Electrical resistivity measurements have been performed on the iron-based ladder compounds Ba$_{1-x}$Cs$_x$Fe$_2$Se$_3$ ($x$ = 0, 0.25, 0.65, and 1) under high pressure. A cubic anvil press was used up to 8.0 GPa, whereas further higher pressure was applied using a diamond anvil cell up to 30.0 GPa. Metallic behavior of the electrical conductivity was confirmed in the $x$ = 0.25 and 0.65 samples for pressures greater than 11.3 and 14.4 GPa, respectively, with the low-temperature $\log T$ upturn being consistent with weak localization of 2D electrons due to random potential. At pressures higher…
Inelastic neutron scattering on the spin-chain compound Sr$_3$NiIrO$_6$ reveals gapped quasi-1D magnetic excitations. The observed one-magnon band between 29.5 and 39 meV consists of two dispersive modes. The spin wave spectrum could be well fitted with an antiferromagnetic anisotropic exchange model and single ion anisotropy on the Ni site. The extracted dominant anisotropic antiferromagnetic intra-chain exchange interaction between Ir and Ni ions are $J_z=19.5$ meV and $J_{xy}=12.1$ meV. These values justify previous electronic structure calculations, showing the importance of Ir spin orbit …
The incommensurate composite systems M14Cu24O41 (M=Ca,Sr,La) are based on two fundamental structural units: CuO2 chains and Cu2O3 ladders. We present electronic structure calculations within density functional theory in order to address the interrelations between chains and ladders. The calculations account for the details of the crystal structure by means of a unit cell comprising 10 chain and 7 ladder units. It turns out that chains and ladders can be treated independently, which allows us to introduce a model system based on a reduced unit cell. For the CuO2 chains, we find two characterist…
Magnons play an important role in fast precessional magnetization reversal processes serving as a heat bath for dissipation of the Zeeman energy and thus being responsible for the relaxation of magnetization. Employing \emph{ab initio} many-body perturbation theory we studied the magnon spectra of the tetragonal FeCo compounds considering three different experimental $c/a$ ratios, $c/a=$1.13, 1.18, and 1.24 corresponding to FeCo grown on Pd, Ir, and Rh, respectively. We find that for all three cases the short-wave-length magnons are strongly damped and tetragonal distortion gives rise to a sig…
Magnetotransport Properties of Iron-Based Ladder Compounds BaFe2S3 and BaFe2Se3 under High Pressure
Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Hiroshima University（广岛大学高级科学与工程学院）；International Institute for Sustainability with Knotted Chiral Meta Matter (WPI-SKCM2), Hiroshima University（广岛大学螺旋手性超材料可持续性国际研究所）；Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University（东北大学理学院物理系）
The discovery of the almost ideal, two-chain spin-ladder material (C_5H_12N)_2CuBr_4 has once again focused attention on this most fundamental problem in low-dimensional quantum magnetism. Within the bond-operator framework, three qualitative advances are introduced which extend the theory to all finite temperatures and magnetic fields in the gapped regime. This systematic description permits quantitative and parameter-free experimental comparisons, which are presented for the specific heat, and predictions for thermal renormalization of the triplet magnon excitations.
LaCuO_2.5 is a system of coupled, two-chain, cuprate ladders which may be doped systematically by Sr substitution. Motivated by the recent synthesis of single crystals, we investigate theoretically the possibility of superconductivity in this compound. We use a model of spin fluctuation-mediated superconductivity, where the pairing potential is strongly peaked at πin the ladder direction. We solve the coupled gap equations on the bonding and antibonding ladder bands to find superconducting solutions across the range of doping, and discuss their relevance to the real material.
A lithium dopant in a cuprate spin ladder acts as a vacant (non-magnetic) site accompanied by an extra hole bound by a Coulomb potential. We find that, although the undoped ladder spin gap is not essentially altered by Li doping, a dopant-magnon bound state appears within the gap. Contrary to the case of Zn-doped ladders, we predict that, in the Li-doped ladder, the spin liquid character is very robust against antiferromagnetism. We also predict the spatial dependence of the density of states in the vicinity of the dopant which could be measured by local spectroscopic probes.
Recent proton spin-lattice relaxation-time (T_1_) measurements on the ferrimagnetic chain compound NiCu(C_7_H_6_N_2_O_6_)(H_2_O)_3_2H_2_O are explained by an elaborately modified spin-wave theory. We give a strong evidence of the major contribution to 1/T_1_ being made by the three-magnon scattering rather than the Raman one.
We report the measurements of the pseudodielectric function, far-infrared reflectivity and Raman scattering spectra in Sr_{14}Cu_{24}O_{41} single crystal. We study the lattice and the spin dynamics of the Cu$_2$O$_3$ spin ladders and CuO$_2$ chains of this compound. The ellipsometric and the optical reflectivity measurements yield the gap values of 1.4 eV, 1.86 eV, 2.34 eV (2.5 eV) for the ladders (chains) along the {\bf c}-axis and 2.4 eV along the {\bf a}-axis. The electronic structure of the Cu$_2$O$_3$ ladders is analyzed using tight-binding approach for the correlated electron systems. T…
A Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) has been observed in magnetic insulators in the last decade. The bosons that condensed are magnons, associated with an ordered magnetic phase induced by a magnetic field. We review the experiments in the spin-gap compound NiCl2-4SC(NH2)2, in which the formation of BEC occurs by applying a magnetic field at low temperatures. This is a contribution to the celebration for the 50th anniversary of the Solid State and Low Temperature Laboratory of the University of São Paulo, where this compound was first magnetically characterized.
A comprehensive theoretical and experimental study is presented of the magnetic susceptibility versus temperature χ(T) of spin S = 1/2 two- and three-leg Heisenberg ladders and ladder oxide compounds. Extensive quantum Monte Carlo simulations of χ(T) were carried out for both isolated and coupled two-leg ladders with spatially anisotropic intraladder exchange. Accurate fits to these and related literature QMC data were obtained. We have also calculated the one- and two-magnon dispersion relations and the dynamical spin structure factor for anisotropic isolated 2 x 12 ladders. The exchange cons…
