We performed inelastic neutron scattering measurements on single crystals of NdFe$_{3}$($^{11}$BO$_{3}$)$_{4}$ to explore the magnetic excitations, to establish the underlying Hamiltonian, and to reveal the detailed nature of hybridization between th
e 4$f$ and 3$d$ magnetism. The observed spectra exhibiting a couple of key features, i.e., anti-crossing of Nd- and Fe-excitations and anisotropy gap at the antiferromagnetic zone center, are explained by the magnetic model including spin interaction in the framework of weakly-coupled Fe$^{3+}$ chains, interaction between the Fe$^{3+}$ and Nd$^{3+}$ moments, and single-ion anisotropy derived from Nd$^{3+}$ crystal field. The combination of the measurements and calculations reveals that the hybridization between 4$f$ and 3$d$ magnetism propagates the local magnetic anisotropy of the Nd$^{3+}$ ion to the Fe$^{3+}$ network, resulting in the bulk structure of multiferroics.
A first-order phase transition is found in the multilayer cuprate superconductor, HgBa$_2$Ca$_4$Cu$_5$O$_y$ (Hg-1245), with a superconducting transition temperature of 108 K, under zero magnetic field. We observed a hysteretic specific heat jump arou
nd 41 K. We conclude that the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer pairs have a residual entropy due to fluctuations in the phase difference between the five CuO$_2$ planes in a unit cell of Hg-1245, and that this fluctuation freezes below the first-order phase transition temperature.
Neutron Brillouin scattering (NBS) method was developed using a pulsed spallation neutron source, and the feasibility of NBS was demonstrated by observing ferromagnetic spin waves in La$_{0.8}$Sr$_{0.2}$MnO$_3$ and SrRuO$_3$ powders. Gapless spin-wav
e excitations were observed in La$_{0.8}$Sr$_{0.2}$MnO$_3$, which were continuously extended to the lower scattering vector $Q$ from previous results using single crystals. The novel result is a well-defined quadratic $Q$ dependence in the spin-wave dispersion curve with a large energy gap in SrRuO$_3$ indicating robust spin-orbit coupling.
