Spectral distribution of relaxation times in spin glasses

Abstract

Recent neutron scattering measurements on spin glasses show that the dynamics of the spin systems can be best described in terms of wide spectral distribution of relaxation times evolving continuously with decreasing temperature but which is devoid of any critical behaviour, either speeding up or slowing down, at any finite temperature including the spin glass “freezing temperature T sg”. It is argued that the latter temperature itself is dependent on the time constant of measurement for all spin glasses in general; the observed variation with frequency being less pronounced in some systems than others owing to some special characteristics of their spin dynamics such as, for example, the presence of parallel channels of rapid relaxation provided by the Korringa coupling in metallic spin glasses. The neutron scattering measurements presented here enable us to propose plausible forms for the density of relaxation times of the spin system and to show that the logarithmic frequency dependence of the freezing temperature observed in low frequency ac susceptibility measurements follows naturally from a uniform density of relaxation times at these frequencies.