Inelastic neutron scattering study on anisotropic exchange and dzyaloshinsky–moriya interactions in the S= 1/2 Triangular Spin Cluster V₃

Inelastic neutron scattering (INS) experiments have been performed on a V₃ triangular spin cluster. At the base temperature (T = 0:7 K), the INS spectrum clearly exhibits a broad peak at h ! = 0:8 meV. The peak was ascribed to the superposition of four magnetic excitations from two S_total = 1=2 doublets to two S_total = 3=2 doublets. From the observed peak position, width, and intensity, we confirmed a model Hamiltonian comprising anisotropic exchange and Dzyaloshinsky–Moriya (DM) interactions, and estimated the Hamiltonian parameters as J^x = J^y = 5:73 K, J^z = 6:83 K, D^z_1;2 = 0:261 K, and D^z_2;3 = D^z_3;1 = 0:287 K, where J is the -component of the exchange interactions and D^z_{i; j} represents the z-component of the DM vector between the i-th and j-th V^4þ ions. The resulting model Hamiltonian successfully reproduced the half-step magnetization process reported earlier as well as magnetic susceptibility.