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Order by Disorder and Energetic Selection of the Ground State in the XY Pyrochlore Antiferromagnet Er2Ti2O7. An Inelastic Neutron Scattering Study

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 نشر من قبل Sylvain Petit
 تاريخ النشر 2014
  مجال البحث فيزياء
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Examples of materials where an order by disorder mechanism is at play to select a particular ground state are scarce. It has recently been proposed, however, that the antiferromagnetic XY pyrochlore Er2Ti2O7, reveals a most convincing case of this mechanism. Observation of a spin gap at zone centers has recently been interpreted as a corroboration of this physics. In this paper, we argue, however, that the anisotropy generated by the interaction-induced admixing between the crystal-field ground and excited levels provides for an alternative mechanism. It especially predicts the opening of a spin gap of about 15 micro-eV, which is of the same order of magnitude as the one observed experimentally. We report new high resolution inelastic neutron scattering data which can be well understood within this scenario.


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