No Arabic abstract
Neutron diffraction and 7Li-NMR have been applied to determine the multiferroic system LiCu2O2, which has four chains (ribbon chains) of edge-sharing CuO4 square planes in a unit cell. We have confirmed that there are successive magnetic transitions at TN1=24.5 K and TN2=22.8 K. In the T region between TN1 and TN2, the quasi one-dimensional spins (S=1/2) of Cu2+ ions within a chain have a collinear and sinusoidally modulated structure with Cu-moments parallel to the c-axis and with the modulation vector along the b-axis. At T < TN2, an ellipsoidal helical spin structure with the incommensurate modulation has been found. Here, we present detailed parameters, describing the modulation amplitudes, helical axis vectors as well as the relative phases of the modulations of four ribbon chains, which can well reproduce both the NMR and neutron results in the two magnetically ordered phases. This finding of the rather precise magnetic structures enables us to discuss the relationship between the magnetic structure and the multiferroic nature of the present system in zero magnetic field, as presented in our companion paper (paper I), and open a way how to understand the reported electric polarization under the finite magnetic field.
We have determined the magnetic structure of the low-temperature incommensurate phase of multiferroic YMn2O5 using single-crystal neutron diffraction. By employing corepresentation analysis, we have ensured full compliance with both symmetry and physical constraints, so that the electrical polarization must lie along the b axis, as observed. The evolution of the spin components and propagation through the commensurate-incommensurate phase boundary points unambiguously at the exchange-striction mechanism as the primary driving force for ferroelectricity.
The layered {beta}-NaMnO2, a promising Na-ion energy-storage material has been investigated for its triangular lattice capability to promote complex magnetic configurations that may release symmetry restrictions for the coexistence of ferroelectric and magnetic orders. The complexity of the neutron powder diffraction patterns underlines that the routinely adopted commensurate structural models are inadequate. Instead, a single-phase superspace symmetry description is necessary, demonstrating that the material crystallizes in a compositionally modulated q= (0.077(1), 0, 0) structure. Here, Mn3+ Jahn-Teller distorted MnO6 octahedra form corrugated layer stacking sequences of the {beta}-NaMnO2 type, which are interrupted by flat sheets of the {alpha}-like oxygen topology. Spontaneous long-range collinear antiferromagnetic order, defined by the propagation vector k= (1/2, 1/2, 1/2), appears below TN1= 200 K. Moreover, a second transition into a spatially modulated proper-screw magnetic state (k+-q) is established at TN2= 95 K, with an antiferromagnetic order parameter resembling that of a two-dimensional (2D) system. The evolution of 23Na NMR spin-lattice relaxation identifies a magnetically inhomogene-ous state in the intermediate T-region (TN2 <T< TN1), while its strong suppression below TN2 indicates that a spin-gap opens in the excitation spectrum. High-resolution neutron inelastic scattering confirms that the magnetic dynamics are indeed gapped ({Delta}~5 meV) in the low-temperature magnetic phase, while simulations on the basis of the single-mode approximation suggest that Mn-spins residing on ad-jacent antiferromagnetic chains, establish sizable 2D correlations. Our analysis points that novel struc-tural degrees of freedom promote, cooperative magnetism and emerging dielectric properties in this non-perovskite-type of manganite.
We have investigated the crystal and magnetic structures of the trigonal iron-boracite Fe3B7O13X with X = OH by neutron diffraction. Neutron diffraction enables us to locate the hydrogen atom of the hydroxyl group and determine the magnetic ground state of this member of the multiferroic boracite family. No evidence was found for a monoclinic distortion in the magnetic ordered state. The magnetic symmetry allows for magnetoelectric and ferroelectric properties. The N/eel tempera- ture TN of 4.86(4) K confirms the general trends within the boracites that TN decreases from X = I > Br > Cl > OH. Surprisingly while Fe3B7O13OH exhibits the largest frustration with $|theta/T_N| = 5.6$ within the Fe3B7O13X series, no reduction of the magnetic moment is found using neutron diffraction.
A boson two--leg ladder in the presence of a synthetic magnetic flux is investigated by means of bosonization techniques and Density Matrix Renormalization Group (DMRG). We follow the quantum phase transition from the commensurate Meissner to the incommensurate vortex phase with increasing flux at different fillings. When the applied flux is $rho pi$ and close to it, where $rho$ is the filling per rung, we find a second incommensuration in the vortex state that affects physical observables such as the momentum distribution, the rung-rung correlation function and the spin-spin and charge-charge static structure factors.
LiCu2O2 is the first multiferroic cuprate to be reported and its ferroelectricity is induced by complex magnetic ordering in ground state, which is still in controversy today. Herein, we have grown nearly untwinned LiCu2O2 single crystals of high quality and systematically investigated their dielectric and ferroelectric behaviours in external magnetic fields. The highly anisotropic response observed in different magnetic fields apparently contradicts the prevalent bc- or ab- plane cycloidal spin model. Our observations give strong evidence supporting a new helimagnetic picture in which the normal of the spin helix plane is along the diagonal of CuO4 squares which form the quasi-1D spin chains by edge-sharing. Further analysis suggests that the spin helix in the ground state is elliptical and in the intermediate state the present c-axis collinear SDW model is applicable with some appropriate modifications. In addition, our studies show that the dielectric and ferroelectric measurements could be used as probes for the characterization of the complex spin structures in multiferroic materials due to the close tie between their magnetic and electric orderings.