Dr Dharmalingam Prabhakaran

Abstract:

We report on an extensive investigation of the multiferroic compound TbMn O3 using x-ray scattering techniques. Nonresonant x-ray magnetic scattering (NRXMS) was used to characterize the domain population of the single crystal used in our experiments. This revealed that the dominant domain is overwhelmingly A type. The temperature dependence of the intensity and wave vector associated with the incommensurate magnetic order was found to be in good agreement with neutron scattering data. X-ray resonant scattering experiments were performed in the vicinity of the Mn K and Tb L3 edges in the high-temperature collinear phase, the intermediate temperature cycloidal and ferroelectric phase, and the low-temperature phase. In the collinear phase, where according to neutron diffraction only the Mn sublattice is ordered, resonant E1-E1 satellites were found at the Mn K edge associated with A -type but also F -type peaks. Detailed measurements of the azimuthal dependence of the F -type satellites (and their absence in the NRXMS experiments) leads us to conclude that they are most likely nonmagnetic in origin. We suggest instead that they may be associated with an induced charge multipole. At the Tb L3 edge, resonant A - and F -type satellites were observed in the collinear phase again associated with E1-E1 events. We attribute these to a polarization of the Tb 5d states by the ordering of the Mn sublattice. On cooling into the cycloidal and ferroelectric phase, a new set of resonant satellites appear corresponding to C -type order. These appear at the Tb L3 edge only. In addition to a dominant E1-E1 component in the σ- π′ channel, a weaker component is found in the preedge with σ- σ′ polarization and displaced by -7 eV with respect to the E1-E1 component. Comprehensive calculations of the x-ray scattering cross section were performed using the FDMNES code. These calculations show that the unrotated σ- σ′ component of the Tb L3 C -type peaks appearing in the ferroelectric phase contains a contribution from a multipole that is odd with respect to both space and time, known in various contexts as the anapole. Our experiments thus provide tentative evidence for the existence of a type of anapolar order parameter in the rare-earth manganite class of mulitferroic compounds. © 2007 The American Physical Society.

Abstract:

The ferroelectromagnet YMnO3 consists of weakly coupled triangular layers of S=2 spins. Below T(N) approximately equal to 70 K muon-spin relaxation data show two oscillatory relaxing signals due to magnetic order, with no purely relaxing signals resolvable (which would require different coexisting spin distributions). The transition temperature T(N) increases with applied hydrostatic pressure, even though the ordered moment decreases. These results suggest that pressure increases both the exchange coupling between the layers and the frustration within the layers.

Abstract:

The long-range three-dimensional ordering of Na⁺ ions was studied in a sample of composition Na0.75CoO2 using single-crystal neutron diffraction. Large-scale numerical simulations reveal the ordering principle for this system, the formation of multi-vacancy charged droplets then order long range, and the structure factors from these defect clusters are in good agreement with the observed neutron diffraction intensities. The electrostatic potential is found to be the dominant factor in determining the sodium ordering and its associated distortion field. The superstructures induce a periodic potential in the CoO2, giving potential wells that are larger than the single-particle hopping frequency and so able to localize holes. The results readily explain many of the observed electrical and magnetic properties, including the three dimensionality of the magnetic excitations. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract:

The incommensurate magnetic excitations of spin-charge ordered La2NiO4.11 were studied by inelastic neutron scattering. With increasing energy up to similar to 20meV the maximum intensity of the spin excitations is observed to shift slightly towards the 2D antiferromagnetic wave vector (1/2, 1/2). This asymmetry in the magnon dispersion about the incommensurate wave vector is a similar effect, though less marked, to what has been observed in the layered cuprate superconductors. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract:

We present the results of muon-spin relaxation (μ+ SR) measurements on the kagome staircase compounds Ni3 V2 O8 and Co3 V2 O8. The magnetic behavior of these materials may be described in terms of two inequivalent magnetic ion sites, known as spine sites and cross-tie sites. Our μ+ SR results allow us to probe each of these sites individually, revealing the distribution of the local magnetic fields near these positions. We are able not only to confirm the magnetic structures of the various phases proposed on the basis of bulk measurements but also to give an insight into the temperature evolution of the local field distribution in each phase. © 2007 The American Physical Society.