Prof Radu Coldea

Abstract:

We present detailed calculations of the magnetic ground state properties of Cs$_2$CuCl$_4$ in an applied magnetic field, and compare our results with recent experiments. The material is described by a spin Hamiltonian, determined with precision in high field measurements, in which the main interaction is antiferromagnetic Heisenberg exchange between neighboring spins on an anisotropic triangular lattice. An additional, weak Dzyaloshinkii-Moriya interaction introduces easy-plane anisotropy, so that behavior is different for transverse and longitudinal field directions. We determine the phase diagram as a function of field strength for both field directions at zero temperature, using a classical approximation as a first step. Building on this, we calculate the effect of quantum fluctuations on the ordering wavevector and components of the ordered moments, using both linear spinwave theory and a mapping to a Bose gas which gives exact results when the magnetization is almost saturated. Many aspects of the experimental data are well accounted for by this approach.

Abstract:

We have investigated the optimum conditions for the growth of Na xCoO2 single crystals by the optical floating-zone technique. A significant reduction in Na loss, was achieved by using a high-pressure growth atmosphere. A high-pressure oxygen-rich atmosphere during crystal growth was found to reduce the presence of CO3O4 impurity phase in the grown crystal. The magnetic properties of powder and single crystal samples were measured by superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometry and found to vary according to the preparation conditions. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract:

We present the temperature dependence of the uniform susceptibility of spin-half quantum antiferromagnets on spatially anisotropic triangular-lattices, using high temperature series expansions. We consider a model with two exchange constants, $J_1$ and $J_2$ on a lattice that interpolates between the limits of a square-lattice ($J_1=0$), a triangular-lattice ($J_2=J_1$), and decoupled linear chains ($J_2=0$). In all cases, the susceptibility which has a Curie-Weiss behavior at high temperatures, rolls over and begins to decrease below a peak temperature, $T_p$. Scaling the exchange constants to get the same peak temperature, shows that the susceptibilities for the square-lattice and linear chain limits have similar magnitudes near the peak. Maximum deviation arises near the triangular-lattice limit, where frustration leads to much smaller susceptibility and with a flatter temperature dependence. We compare our results to the inorganic materials Cs$_2$CuCl$_4$ and Cs$_2$CuBr$_4$ and to a number of organic molecular crystals. We find that the former (Cs$_2$CuCl$_4$ and Cs$_2$CuBr$_4$) are weakly frustrated and their exchange parameters determined through the temperature dependence of the susceptibility are in agreement with neutron-scattering measurements. In contrast, the organic materials are strongly frustrated with exchange parameters near the isotropic triangular-lattice limit.