No Arabic abstract
X-band ESR measurements on a single crystal of the highly frustrated SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$ system are shown to provide an essential inspection of the magnetic anisotropy present in this compound. The very broad absorption lines seem to be consistent with the largest anisotropy term, namely, the antisymmetric Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya (DM) interaction allowed by symmetry. However, the previously well-accepted model of only interdimer interaction is generalized with additional intradimer DM terms. Moreover, spin-phonon coupling is recognized as the cause on the linewidth broadening with increasing temperature.
Harnessing the most advanced capabilities of quantum technologies will require the ability to control macroscopic quantum states of matter. Quantum magnetic materials provide a valuable platform for realizing highly entangled many-body quantum systems, and have been used to investigate phenomena ranging from quantum phase transitions (QPTs) to fractionalization, topological order and the entanglement structure of the quantum wavefunction. Although multiple studies have controlled their properties by static applied pressures or magnetic fields, dynamical control at the fundamental timescales of their magnetic interactions remains completely unexplored. However, major progress in the technology of ultrafast laser pulses has enabled the dynamical modification of electronic properties, and now we demonstrate the ultrafast control of quantum magnetism. This we achieve by a magnetophononic mechanism, the driving of coherent lattice displacements to produce a resonant excitation of the quantum spin dynamics. Specifically, we apply intense terahertz laser pulses to excite a collective spin state of the quantum antiferromagnet SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$ by resonance with the nonlinear mixing frequency of the driven phonons that modulate the magnetic interactions. Our observations indicate a universal mechanism for controlling nonequilibrium quantum many-body physics on timescales many orders of magnitude faster than those achieved to date.
A series of in-plane substituted compounds, including Cu-site (SrZn$_x$Cu$_{2-x}$(BO$_3$)$_2$), and B-site (SrCu$_2$(Si$_x$B$_{1-x}$O$_3$)$_2$) substitution, were synthesized by solid state reaction. X-ray diffraction measurements reveal that these compounds are single-phase materials and their in-plane lattice parameter depends systematically on the substituting content $x$. The magnetic susceptibility in different magnetic fields, the magnetization at different temperatures, and the resistivity at room temperature were measured, respectively. It is found that the spin gap deduced from the magnetic susceptibility measurements decreases with increasing of $x$ in both Cu- and B-site substitution. No superconductivity was found in these substituted compounds.
We present magnetic torque measurements on the Shastry-Sutherland quantum spin system SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$ in fields up to 31 T and temperatures down to 50 mK. A new quantum phase is observed in a 1 T field range above the 1/8 plateau, in agreement with recent NMR results. Since the presence of the DM coupling precludes the existence of a true Bose-Einstein condensation and the formation of a supersolid phase in SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$, the exact nature of the new phase in the vicinity of the plateau remains to be explained. Comparison between magnetization and torque data reveals a huge contribution of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction to the torque response. Finally, our measurements demonstrate the existence of a supercooling due to adiabatic magnetocaloric effects in pulsed field experiments.
Building on the growing evidence based on NMR, magnetization, neutron scattering, ESR, and specific heat that, under pressure, SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$ has an intermediate phase between the dimer and the Neel phase, we study the competition between two candidate phases in the context of a minimal model that includes two types of intra- and inter-dimer interactions without enlarging the unit cell. We show that the empty plaquette phase of the Shastry-Sutherland model is quickly replaced by a quasi-1D full plaquette phase when intra- and/or inter-dimer couplings take different values, and that this full plaquette phase is in much better agreement with available experimental data than the empty plaquette one.
We investigated the anisotropic magnetic properties of CePd$_2$As$_2$ by magnetic, thermal and electrical transport studies. X-ray diffraction confirmed the tetragonal ThCr$_2$Si$_2$-type structure and the high-quality of the single crystals. Magnetisation and magnetic susceptibility data taken along the different crystallographic directions evidence a huge crystalline electric field (CEF) induced Ising-type magneto-crystalline anisotropy with a large $c$-axis moment and a small in-plane moment at low temperature. A detailed CEF analysis based on the magnetic susceptibility data indicates an almost pure $langlepm5/2 rvert$ CEF ground-state doublet with the dominantly $langlepm3/2 rvert$ and the $langlepm1/2 rvert$ doublets at 290 K and 330 K, respectively. At low temperature, we observe a uniaxial antiferromagnetic (AFM) transition at $T_N=14.7$ K with the crystallographic $c$-direction being the magnetic easy-axis. The magnetic entropy gain up to $T_N$ reaches almost $Rln2$ indicating localised $4f$-electron magnetism without significant Kondo-type interactions. Below $T_N$, the application of a magnetic field along the $c$-axis induces a metamagnetic transition from the AFM to a field-polarised phase at $mu_0H_{c0}=0.95$ T, exhibiting a text-book example of a spin-flip transition as anticipated for an Ising-type AFM.