Static Magnetic Order Research Articles

Fe-impurity-induced magnetic excitations in heavily over-doped La1.7Sr0.3Cu0.95Fe0.05O4

Inelastic neutron scattering experiments were performed to investigate the effect of Fe substitution on the magnetic excitation spectra in a heavily hole-doped cuprate system La1.7Sr0.3Cu0.95Fe0.05O4, with an effective concentration of holes of xeff = 0.25. At T = 7 K, well-defined low-energy magnetic excitations, associated with a static magnetic order, were observed at the incommensurate positions Qtet = (0.5±δ, 0.5)/(0.5, 0.5±δ). Although the incommensurate structure resembles that observed in La2-xSrxCuO4 (LSCO) systems, the incommensurability (δ) of 0.144 (r.l.u) was larger than that of ∼0.125 (r.l.u) in LSCO with x = 0.25, suggesting an increase in δ by Fe substitution. In addition to the obvious effect on IC excitations, we show the emergence of ring-shaped magnetic excitations centered at Qtet = (0.5, 0.5) in a constant energy spectrum by Fe-substitution. These ring-shaped excitations were observed for energies below ∼8 meV, yielding a cylindrical continuum excitation in the energy and momentum spaces. Similar continuum excitations were recently observed in pristine LSCO with x = 0.25 at high temperatures, in our neutron experiments [1]. These results, which show the enhancement of δ (higher than δ = 1/8) and the stabilization of continuum excitations by Fe substitution, are incompatible with a simple pinning scenario of the stripe order, which is characterized by local spin correlations. The metallic aspect of the low-energy part of the magnetic excitation, which underlies high-temperature superconductivity in over-doped cuprate systems, would be enhanced/induced by Fe substitution.

Mössbauer spectroscopy study of magnetic fluctuations in superconducting RbGd2Fe4As4O2

57Fe Mössbauer spectra were measured at different temperatures between 5.9 K and 300 K on the recently discovered self-doped superconducting RbGd2Fe4As4O2 with Tc as high as 35 K. Singlet pattern was observed down to the lowest temperature measured in this work, indicating the absence of static magnetic order on the Fe site. The intermediate isomer shift in comparison with that of the samples RbFe2As2 and GdFeAsO confirms the self doping induced local electronic structure change. Surprisingly, we observe two magnetic fluctuation induced spectral broadenings below ∼ 15 K and ∼ 100 K which are believed to be originated from the transferred magnetic fluctuations of the Gd3+ moments and that of the magnetic fluctuations of the Fe atoms, respectively.

Absence of static magnetic order in nonsuperconducting FeSe thin films on SrTiO3 (001) revealed by the magnetism of Se vacancies

FeSe, as the simplest Fe-based superconductor, invokes tremendous studies on its electronic and magnetic properties. Among these, inconsistent or even contradictory results are often seen in both theory and experiment, especially concerning the magnetism of FeSe. In this paper, the absence of static magnetic order is directly revealed by the magnetism of Se vacancies in FeSe thin films on ${\mathrm{SrTiO}}_{3}$ measured with spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy on the atomic scale. Symmetry analysis and first-principles calculation further confirmed the nonmagnetic ground state of FeSe. The discrepancy between local-density approximation and generalized-gradient approximation implies that FeSe is near a magnetic critical point.

Spin Resonance and Magnetic Order in an Unconventional Superconductor.

Unconventional superconductivity in many materials is believed to be mediated by magnetic fluctuations. It is an open question how magnetic order can emerge from a superconducting condensate and how it competes with the magnetic spin resonance in unconventional superconductors. Here we study a model d-wave superconductor that develops spin-density wave order, and find that the spin resonance is unaffected by the onset of static magnetic order. This result suggests a scenario, in which the resonance in Nd_{0.05}Ce_{0.95}CoIn_{5} is a longitudinal mode with fluctuating moments along the ordered magnetic moments.

57Fe Mössbauer study of stoichiometric iron-based superconductor CaKFe4As4: a comparison to KFe2As2 and CaFe2As2

Fe Mössbauer spectra at different temperatures between and K were measured on an oriented mosaic of single crystals of . The data indicate that is a well formed compound with narrow spectral lines, no traces of other, Fe – containing, secondary phases in the spectra and no static magnetic order. There is no discernible feature at the superconducting transition temperature in any of the hyperfine parameters. The temperature dependence of the quadrupole splitting approximately follows the empirical ‘ law’. The hyperfine parameters of are compared with those for measured in this work, and the literature data for , and were found to be in between those for these two, ordered, 122 compounds, in agreement with the gross view of as a structural analog of and that has alternating Ca- and K-layers in the structure.

Magnetic Hamiltonian and phase diagram of the quantum spin liquidCa10Cr7O28

A spin liquid is a new state of matter with topological order where the spin moments continue to fluctuate coherently down to the lowest temperatures rather than develop static long-range magnetic order as found in conventional magnets. For spin liquid behavior to arise in a material the magnetic Hamiltonian must be "frustrated" where the combination of lattice geometry, interactions and anisotropies gives rise to competing spin arrangements in the ground state. Theoretical Hamiltonians which produce spin liquids are spin ice, the Kitaev honeycomb model and the Heisenberg kagome antiferromagnet. Spin liquid behavior however in real materials is rare because they can only approximate these Hamiltonians and often have weak higher order terms that destroy the spin liquid state. Ca10Cr7O28 is a new quantum spin liquid with magnetic Cr5+ ions that possess quantum spin number S=1/2. The spins are entirely dynamic in the ground state and the excitation spectrum is broad and diffuse as is typical of spinons which are the excitations of a spin liquid. In this paper we determine the Hamiltonian of Ca10Cr7O28 using inelastic neutron scattering under high magnetic field to induce a ferromagnetic ground state and spin-wave excitations that can be fitted to extract the interactions. We further explore the phase diagram by using inelastic neutron scattering and heat capacity measurements and establish the boundaries of the spin liquid phase as a function of magnetic field and temperature. Our results show that Ca10Cr7O28 consists of distorted kagome bilayers with several isotropic ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions where unexpectedly the ferromagnetic interactions are stronger than the antiferromagnetic ones. This complex Hamiltonian does not correspond to any known spin liquid model and points to new directions in the search for quantum spin liquid behavior.

Magnetic order and spin dynamics across a ferromagnetic quantum critical point:μSRinvestigations ofYbNi4(P1−xAsx)2

In the quasi-1D heavy-fermion system YbNi$_4$(P$_{1-x}$As$_x$)$_2$ the presence of a ferromagnetic (FM) quantum critical point (QCP) at $x_c$ $\approx 0.1$ with unconventional quantum critical exponents in the thermodynamic properties has been recently reported. Here, we present muon-spin relaxation ($\mu$SR) experiments on polycrystals of this series to study the magnetic order and the low energy 4$f$-electronic spin dynamics across the FM QCP. The zero field $\mu$SR measurements on pure YbNi$_4$(P$_{2}$ proved static long range magnetic order and suggested a strongly reduced ordered Yb moment of about 0.04$\mu_B$. With increasing As substitution the ordered moment is reduced by half at $x = 0.04$ and to less than 0.005 $\mu_B$ at $x=0.08$. The dynamic behavior in the $\mu$SR response show that magnetism remains homogeneous upon As substitution, without evidence for disorder effect. In the paramagnetic state across the FM QCP the dynamic muon-spin relaxation rate follows 1/$T_{1}T\propto T^{-n}$ with $1.01 \pm 0.04 \leq n \leq 1.13 \pm 0.06$. The critical fluctuations are very slow and are even becoming slower when approaching the QCP.

Ground state selection under pressure in the quantum pyrochlore magnet Yb2Ti2O7

A quantum spin liquid is a state of matter characterized by quantum entanglement and the absence of any broken symmetry. In condensed matter, the frustrated rare-earth pyrochlore magnets Ho2Ti2O7 and Dy2Ti2O7, so-called spin ices, exhibit a classical spin liquid state with fractionalized thermal excitations (magnetic monopoles). Evidence for a quantum spin ice, in which the magnetic monopoles become long range entangled and an emergent quantum electrodynamics arises, seems within reach. The magnetic properties of the quantum spin ice candidate Yb2Ti2O7 have eluded a global understanding and even the presence or absence of static magnetic order at low temperatures is controversial. Here we show that sensitivity to pressure is the missing key to the low temperature behaviour of Yb2Ti2O7. By combining neutron diffraction and muon spin relaxation on a stoichiometric sample under pressure, we evidence a magnetic transition from a disordered, non-magnetic, ground state to a splayed ferromagnetic ground state.

Neutron powder diffraction study on the iron-based nitride superconductor ThFeAsN

We report neutron diffraction and transport results on the newly discovered superconducting nitride ThFeAsN with . No magnetic transition, but a weak structural distortion around 160 K, is observed by cooling from 300 K to 6 K. Analysis on the resistivity, Hall transport and crystal structure suggests that this material behaves as an electron optimally doped pnictide superconductor due to extra electrons from nitrogen deficiency or oxygen occupancy at the nitrogen site, which, together with the low arsenic height, may enhance the electron itinerancy and reduce the electron correlations, thus suppressing the static magnetic order.

Role of magnetic dopants in the phase diagram of Sm 1111 pnictides: The case of Mn

The deliberate insertion of magnetic Mn dopants in the Fe sites of the optimally-doped SmFeAsO0.88-F0.12 iron-based superconductor can modify in a controlled way its electronic properties. The resulting phase diagram was investigated across a wide range of manganese contents (x) by means of muon-spin spectroscopy (muSR), both in zero- and in transverse fields, respectively, to probe the magnetic and the superconducting order. The pure superconducting phase (at x < 0.03) is replaced by a crossover region at intermediate Mn values (0.03 =< x < 0.08), where superconductivity coexists with static magnetic order. After completely suppressing superconductivity for x = 0.08, a further increase in Mn content reinforces the natural tendency towards antiferromagnetic correlations among the magnetic Mn ions. The sharp drop of Tc and the induced magnetic order in the presence of magnetic disorder/dopants, such as Mn, are both consistent with a recent theoretical model of unconventional superconductors [M. Gastiasoro et al., ArXiv 1606.09495], which includes correlation-enhanced RKKY-couplings between the impurity moments.

Cooperative coupling of static magnetism and bulk superconductivity in the stripe phase of La2−xBaxCuO4 : Pressure- and doping-dependent studies

Static spin-stripe order and superconductivity were systematically studied in La_2-xBa_xCuO_4 (0.11 - 0.17) at ambient pressure by means of magnetization and muSR experiments. We find that all the investigated La_2-xBa_xCuO_4 samples exhibit static spin-stripe order and that the quasi two-dimensional superconducting (SC) transition temperature T_c1 and the static spin-stripe order temperature T_so have very similar values throughout the phase diagram. Moreover, the magnetic and the SC properties of the x = 0.155 (LBCO-0.155) and x = 0.17 (LBCO-0.17) samples were studied under hydrostatic pressure. As a remarkable result, in these bulk cuprate superconductors the three-dimensional SC transition temperature T_c and T_so nearly coincide at all pressure investigated (0 - 2.3 GPa). We also observed a pressure induced transition from long-range spin stripe order to a disordered magnetic state at 1.6 GPa in LBCO-0.155, coexisting with a SC state with substantial superfluid density. In LBCO-0.17 a disordered magnetic state is present at all p. The present results indicate that static magnetic order and SC pairing correlations develop in a cooperative fashion in La_2-xBa_xCuO_4, and provide a new route of understanding the complex interplay between static magnetism and superconductivity in the stripe phase of cuprates.

Magnetic ordering of defects in a molecular spin-Peierls system

With interest in charge transfer compounds growing steadily, it is important to understand all aspects of the underlying physics of these systems, including the properties of the defects and interfaces that are universally present in actual experimental systems. For the study of these defects and their interactions a spin-Peierls (SP) system provides a useful testing ground. This work presents an investigation within the SP phase of potassium TCNQF4 where anomalous features are observed in both the magnetic susceptibility and ESR spectra for temperatures between 60 K and 100 K. Muon spin spectroscopy measurements confirm the presence of these anomalous magnetic features, with low temperature zero-field data exhibiting the damped oscillatory form that is a characteristic signature of static magnetic order. This ordering is most likely due to the interaction between structurally correlated magnetic defects in the system. The critical behaviour of the temperature dependent muon spin rotation frequency indicates that a 2D Ising model is applicable to the magnetic ordering of these defects. We show that these observations can be explained by a simple model in which the magnetic defects are located at stacking faults, which provide them with a 2D structural framework to constrain their interactions.

Muon Spin Relaxation Evidence for the U(1) Quantum Spin-Liquid Ground State in the Triangular AntiferromagnetYbMgGaO4

Muon spin relaxation and rotation ($\mu$SR) experiments on single crystals of the structurally perfect triangular antiferromagnet YbMgGaO$_4$ indicate the absence of both static long-range magnetic order and spin freezing down to 0.048 K in zero field. Below 0.4 K, the $\mu^{+}$ spin relaxation rates, which are proportional to the dynamic correlation function of the Yb$^{3+}$ spins,exhibit temperature-independent plateaus. Same behavior is revealed by temperature-independent local susceptibilities extracted from the Knight shifts of the $\mu^{+}$ spin rotation frequencies under a transverse field of 20 Oe. All these $\mu$SR results unequivocally support the formation of a gapless U(1) quantum spin liquid ground state in the triangular antiferromagnet YbMgGaO$_4$.

Magnetic field-induced switching of magnetic ordering in SrFeO3−δ

The oxygen-deficient strontium iron oxide SrFeO3−δ (SFO) exhibits richness in the phase diagram over a broad range of temperatures and for other external parameters. Room-temperature X-ray diffraction and Raman spectrum reveals that the structure of synthesized SFO system consists of two mixed phases, i.e., major orthorhombic and minor tetragonal phases. The low-temperature Raman and vibrating sample magnetometer measurements indicated a structural transition below 253 K. The magnetic property of the synthesized SFO for various external magnetic field (up to 5 T) reveals possible variation in oxygen stoichiometry. Also, the application of external H increases Neel transition temperature (T N), suppresses the hysteresis width (W H), and thus weakens the first-order nature of the transition. Our analysis revealed the vanishing of hysteresis and the first-order antiferromagnetic transition becomes a crossover above a critical magnetic field H CR ≈ 5 T. Possible switching of magnetic ordering and oxidation state observed in same system enhances interest in related compounds which may be used in magnetic sensors and other magnetic switching devices.

Dual nature of magnetic dopants and competing trends in topological insulators

Topological insulators interacting with magnetic impurities have been reported to host several unconventional effects. These phenomena are described within the framework of gapping Dirac quasiparticles due to broken time-reversal symmetry. However, the overwhelming majority of studies demonstrate the presence of a finite density of states near the Dirac point even once topological insulators become magnetic. Here, we map the response of topological states to magnetic impurities at the atomic scale. We demonstrate that magnetic order and gapless states can coexist. We show how this is the result of the delicate balance between two opposite trends, that is, gap opening and emergence of a Dirac node impurity band, both induced by the magnetic dopants. Our results evidence a more intricate and rich scenario with respect to the once generally assumed, showing how different electronic and magnetic states may be generated and controlled in this fascinating class of materials.

Mössbauer studies on Mn substituted CoFe2O4/SiO2 nanocomposites synthesized by sol–gel method

Mn-substituted CoFe2O4 nanoparticles dispersed in SiO2 matrix (Co1−xMnxFe2O4/SiO2) were synthesized by a sol–gel method. The effects of Mn2+ content and annealing temperature on their structural and magnetic properties as well as cation distribution were studied in detail by X-ray diffraction, vibrating sample magnetometer and Mössbauer spectroscopy at room temperature. The results show that the Co1−xMnxFe2O4 in the samples annealed at above 700°C exhibits cubic spinel structure. The lattice constant of Co1−xMnxFe2O4 nanoparticles increases with increasing Mn2+ content because of the substitution of Co2+ ion with a small ionic radius by Mn2+ ion with a relatively large ionic radius and most of Mn2+ ions tend to substitute Co2+ ions at octahedral B sites. The saturation magnetization, coercivity and hyperfine fields for Co1−xMnxFe2O4/SiO2 nanocomposites increase with increasing Mn2+ content when x≤0.2, and then decrease for higher Mn2+ content, these changes are strongly dependent on the cation distribution. Furthermore, with increasing annealing temperature, the crystallite size, saturation magnetization and coercivity of the samples increase, the sample transfers from the mixed state of superparamagnetic and magnetic order to the completely magnetic order and Mn2+ ions migrate from the tetrahedral A sites to octahedral B sites.

ChemInform Abstract: Magnetic Neutron Scattering Studies on the Fe‐Based Superconductor System Fe1+yTe1‐xSex

AbstractReview: 218 refs.

Electrically tunable transport in the antiferromagnetic Mott insulatorSr2IrO4

The electronic band gap in conventional semiconductor materials, such as silicon, is fixed by the material's crystal structure and chemical composition. The gap defines the material's transport and optical properties and is of great importance for performance of semiconductor devices like diodes, transistors and lasers. The ability to tune its value would allow enhanced functionality and flexibility of future electronic and optical devices. Recently, an electrically tunable band gap was realized in a 2D material - electronically gated bilayer graphene [1-3]. Here we demonstrate the realization of an electrically tunable band gap in a 3D antiferromagnetic Mott insulator Sr2IrO4. Using nano-scale contacts between a sharpened Cu tip and a single crystal of Sr2IrO4, we apply a variable external electric field up to a few MV/m and demonstrate a continuous reduction in the band gap of Sr2IrO4 by as much as 16%. We further demonstrate the feasibility of reversible resistive switching and electrically tunable anisotropic magnetoresistance,which provide evidence of correlations between electronic transport, magnetic order, and orbital states in this 5d oxide. Our findings suggest a promising path towards band gap engineering in 5d transition-metal oxides that could potentially lead to appealing technical solutions for next-generation electronic devices.

Effective mass enhancement in B site Fe doping heavy fermion compound CaCu3Ru4O12

Abstract Polycrystalline samples of CaCu 3 Ru 4− x Fe x O 12 ( x =0, 0.04, 0.1, 0.2) were synthesized via conventional solid state reactions. The specific heats of these four compounds have been investigated at temperature down to 2 K. Following the Fe doping, the linear electronic specific heat coefficient increased from 90 mJ/(f.u. mol K 2 ) for x =0 to 271 mJ/(f.u. mol) for x =0.2, indicating an effective mass enhancement. We propose that such enhancement mainly comes from the additional Kondo coupling between the itinerant electrons in Ru 4d orbitals and the localized electrons in 3d orbitals of Fe dopants. Moreover, below a certain temperature, an upturn appears in the C p / T – T 2 curves for all the Fe doped samples CaCu 3 Ru 4− x Fe x O 12 with x ≤0.2. The origin of this upturn may be a new magnetic order state which needs to be identified with further investigations.

Magnetic excitations in the spin-spiral state ofTbMnO3andDyMnO3

We calculate spectra of magnetic excitations in the spin-spiral state of perovskite manganates. The spectra consist of several branches corresponding to different polarizations and different ways of diffraction from the static magnetic order. Goldstone modes and opening of gaps at zero and non-zero energies due to the crystal field and the Dzyaloshinski-Moriya anisotropies are discussed. Comparing results of the calculation with available experimental data we determine values of effective exchange parameters and anisotropies. To simplify the spin-wave calculation and to get a more clear physical insight in the structure of excitations we use the {\sigma}-model-like effective field theory to analyze the Heisenberg Hamiltonian and to derive the spectra.