TY - JOUR
T1 - Spin-stripe phase in a frustrated zigzag spin-1/2 chain
AU - Pregelj, M.
AU - Zorko, A.
AU - Zaharko, O.
AU - Nojiri, H.
AU - Berger, H.
AU - Chapon, L. C.
AU - Arcon, D.
N1 - Funding Information:
We acknowledge the financial support of the Slovenian Research Agency (projects Z1–5443, Bi-US/14-15-39) and the Swiss National Science Foundation (project SCOPES IZ73Z0_152734/1). This research has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under the NMI3-II Grant number 283883. The magnetic susceptibility and specific heat measurements were measured in the Laboratory for Developments and Methods, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, Switzerland, while neutron diffraction experiments were performed at the Swiss spallation neutron source SINQ, at the same institute and at the reactor of the Institute Laue-Langevin, Grenoble, France. The access to the NHMFL and the technical assistance of A. Ozarowski with the EPR measurements are acknowledged. H.N. acknowledges ICC-IMR and KAKENHI23224009.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
PY - 2015/6/11
Y1 - 2015/6/11
N2 - Motifs of periodic modulations are encountered in a variety of natural systems, where at least two rival states are present. In strongly correlated electron systems, such behaviour has typically been associated with competition between short-and long-range interactions, for example, between exchange and dipole-dipole interactions in the case of ferromagnetic thin films. Here we show that spin-stripe textures may develop also in antiferromagnets, where long-range dipole-dipole magnetic interactions are absent. A comprehensive analysis of magnetic susceptibility, high-field magnetization, specific heat and neutron diffraction measurements unveils β-TeVO 4 as a nearly perfect realization of a frustrated (zigzag) ferromagnetic spin-1/2 chain. Notably, a narrow spin-stripe phase develops at elevated magnetic fields due to weak frustrated short-range interchain exchange interactions, possibly assisted by the symmetry-allowed electric polarization. This concept provides an alternative route for the stripe formation in strongly correlated electron systems and may help understanding of other widespread, yet still elusive, stripe-related phenomena.
AB - Motifs of periodic modulations are encountered in a variety of natural systems, where at least two rival states are present. In strongly correlated electron systems, such behaviour has typically been associated with competition between short-and long-range interactions, for example, between exchange and dipole-dipole interactions in the case of ferromagnetic thin films. Here we show that spin-stripe textures may develop also in antiferromagnets, where long-range dipole-dipole magnetic interactions are absent. A comprehensive analysis of magnetic susceptibility, high-field magnetization, specific heat and neutron diffraction measurements unveils β-TeVO 4 as a nearly perfect realization of a frustrated (zigzag) ferromagnetic spin-1/2 chain. Notably, a narrow spin-stripe phase develops at elevated magnetic fields due to weak frustrated short-range interchain exchange interactions, possibly assisted by the symmetry-allowed electric polarization. This concept provides an alternative route for the stripe formation in strongly correlated electron systems and may help understanding of other widespread, yet still elusive, stripe-related phenomena.
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U2 - 10.1038/ncomms8255
DO - 10.1038/ncomms8255
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84931274704
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 6
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
M1 - 7255
ER -