Magnetic Coulomb Phase in the Spin Ice Ho2Ti2O7 FENNEH, T; DEEN, P. P; WUDES, A. R ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
10/2009, Letnik:
326, Številka:
5951
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Spin-ice materials are magnetic substances in which the spin directions map onto hydrogen positions in water ice. Their low-temperature magnetic state has been predicted to be a phase that obeys a ...Gauss' law and supports magnetic monopole excitations: in short, a Coulomb phase. We used polarized neutron scattering to show that the spin-ice material Ho2Ti2O7 exhibits an almost perfect Coulomb phase. Our result proves the existence of such phases in magnetic materials and strongly supports the magnetic monopole theory of spin ice.
Topology is now securely established as a means to explore and classify electronic states in crystalline solids. This review provides a gentle but firm introduction to topological electronic band ...structure suitable for new researchers in the field. I begin by outlining the relevant concepts from topology, then give a summary of the theory of non-interacting electrons in periodic potentials. Next, I explain the concepts of the Berry phase and Berry curvature, and derive key formulae. The remainder of the article deals with how these ideas are applied to classify crystalline solids according to the topology of the electronic states, and the implications for observable properties. Among the topics covered are the role of symmetry in determining band degeneracies in momentum space, the Chern number and
topological invariants, surface electronic states, two- and three-dimensional topological insulators, and Weyl and Dirac semimetals
Although muon spin relaxation is commonly used to probe local magnetic order, spin freezing, and spin dynamics, we identify an experimental situation in which the measured response is dominated by an ...effect resulting from the muon-induced local distortion rather than the intrinsic behavior of the host compound. We demonstrate this effect in some quantum spin ice candidate materials Pr(2)B(2)O(7) (B=Sn, Zr, Hf), where we detect a static distribution of magnetic moments that appears to grow on cooling. Using density functional theory we show how this effect can be explained via a hyperfine enhancement arising from a splitting of the non-Kramers doublet ground states on Pr ions close to the muon, which itself causes a highly anisotropic distortion field. We provide a quantitative relationship between this effect and the measured temperature dependence of the muon relaxation and discuss the relevance of these observations to muon experiments in other magnetic materials.
Superconductivity in layered copper oxide compounds emerges when charge carriers are added to antiferromagnetically ordered CuO(2) layers. The carriers destroy the antiferromagnetic order, but strong ...spin fluctuations persist throughout the superconducting phase and are intimately linked to superconductivity. Neutron scattering measurements of spin fluctuations in hole-doped copper oxides have revealed an unusual 'hour-glass' feature in the momentum-resolved magnetic spectrum that is present in a wide range of superconducting and non-superconducting materials. There is no widely accepted explanation for this feature. One possibility is that it derives from a pattern of alternating spin and charge stripes, and this idea is supported by measurements on stripe-ordered La(1.875)Ba(0.125)CuO(4) (ref. 15). Many copper oxides without stripe order, however, also exhibit an hour-glass spectrum. Here we report the observation of an hour-glass magnetic spectrum in a hole-doped antiferromagnet from outside the family of superconducting copper oxides. Our system has stripe correlations and is an insulator, which means that its magnetic dynamics can conclusively be ascribed to stripes. The results provide compelling evidence that the hour-glass spectrum in the copper oxide superconductors arises from fluctuating stripes.
Single crystals of RE2Ti2O7 (RE=Y, Tb, Dy and Ho) have been grown by the floating-zone technique in an image furnace in a controlled atmosphere. The effect of annealing the crystals in different ...atmospheres was studied and found to be very important. Small amounts of Y were doped on the Dy site to study its effect on the spin-ice behaviour. Results for the structural parameters obtained by X-ray diffraction and magnetic properties of the crystals are reported.
A characteristic feature of spin ice is its apparent violation of the third law of thermodynamics. This leads to a number of interesting properties including the emergence of an effective vacuum for ...magnetic monopoles and their currents - magnetricity. Here we add a new dimension to the experimental study of spin ice by fabricating thin epitaxial films of Dy2Ti2O7, varying between 5 and 60 monolayers on an inert substrate. The films show the distinctive characteristics of spin ice at temperatures >2 K, but at lower temperature we find evidence of a zero entropy state. This restoration of the third law in spin ice thin films is consistent with a predicted strain-induced ordering of a very unusual type, previously discussed for analogous electrical systems. Our results show how the physics of frustrated pyrochlore magnets such as spin ice may be significantly modified in thin-film samples.
The need for both high electrical conductivity and low thermal conductivity creates a design conflict for thermoelectric systems, leading to the consideration of materials with complicated crystal ...structures. Rattling of ions in cages results in low thermal conductivity, but understanding the mechanism through studies of the phonon dispersion using momentum-resolved spectroscopy is made difficult by the complexity of the unit cells. We have performed inelastic X-ray and neutron scattering experiments that are in remarkable agreement with our first-principles density-functional calculations of the phonon dispersion for thermoelectric Na(0.8)CoO2, which has a large-period superstructure. We have directly observed an Einstein-like rattling mode at low energy, involving large anharmonic displacements of the sodium ions inside multi-vacancy clusters. These rattling modes suppress the thermal conductivity by a factor of six compared with vacancy-free NaCoO2. Our results will guide the design of the next generation of materials for applications in solid-state refrigerators and power recovery.
Magnetically frustrated systems provide fertile ground for complex behaviour, including unconventional ground states with emergent symmetries, topological properties, and exotic excitations. A ...canonical example is the emergence of magnetic-charge-carrying quasiparticles in spin-ice compounds. Despite extensive work, a reliable experimental indicator of the density of these magnetic monopoles is yet to be found. Using measurements on single crystals of Ho
Ir
O
combined with dipolar Monte Carlo simulations, we show that the isothermal magnetoresistance is highly sensitive to the monopole density. Moreover, we uncover an unexpected and strong coupling between the monopoles on the holmium sublattice and the antiferromagnetically ordered iridium ions. These results pave the way towards a quantitative experimental measure of monopole density and demonstrate the ability to control antiferromagnetic domain walls using a uniform external magnetic field, a key goal in the design of next-generation spintronic devices.
Multiferroic compounds in which magnetic and electric orders coexist are a subject of intense interest in material science because of their technological potential. Knowledge of the ferroelectric ...ordering of these compounds has been incomplete; proposals have been put forward that attribute it to either lattice or electronic distortions. Now, Walker et al. (p. 1273) use x-ray scattering to study the lattice ionic displacements caused by the application of a magnetic field. The displacements are found to be in the femtometer range and can account for roughly a quarter of the measured ferroelectric polarization, giving support to the class of theories that attribute the ferroelectric order to lattice distortions. Magneto-electric multiferroics exemplified by TbMnO3 possess both magnetic and ferroelectric long-range order. The magnetic order is mostly understood, whereas the nature of the ferroelectricity has remained more elusive. Competing models proposed to explain the ferroelectricity are associated respectively with charge transfer and ionic displacements. Exploiting the magneto-electric coupling, we used an electric field to produce a single magnetic domain state, and a magnetic field to induce ionic displacements. Under these conditions, interference between charge and magnetic x-ray scattering arose, encoding the amplitude and phase of the displacements. When combined with a theoretical analysis, our data allow us to resolve the ionic displacements at the femtoscale, and show that such displacements make a substantial contribution to the zero-field ferroelectric moment. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
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