2014/01/14 by Amy Poole, Vladimir Pomjakushin, Anne-Christine Uldry +9
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.str-el #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.89.224511
published as Phys. Rev. B 89, 224511 (2014) · 5 pages, 5 figures
arxiv created 2014/01/14 · arxiv updated 2014/07/09
Neutron diffraction and inelastic spectroscopy is used to characterize the magnetic Hamiltonian of SrHo2O4 and SrDy2O4. Through a detailed computation of the crystal-field levels we find site- dependent anisotropic single-ion magnetism in both materials and diffraction measurements show the presence of strong one-dimensional spin correlations. Our measurements indicate that competing interactions of the zig-zag chain, combined with frustrated interchain interactions, play a crucial role in stabilizing spin-liquid type correlations in this series.