X-ray and neutron scattering

Abstract:

The phase diagram of lead-free piezoelectric Kx Na1-x NbO3 has been studied, with particular focus on the proposed morphotropic phase boundaries, by powder and single crystal x-ray diffraction. The tilt system and cation displacement has been mapped out as a function of temperature and composition, highlighting changes in the oxygen octahedra at x=0.2 and x=0.4 at room temperature. The orthorhombic to monoclinic boundary at x=0.5 has been investigated, with a subtle change in the structure observed. The conclusion is that Kx Na1-x NbO3 does not display a morphotropic phase boundary comparable with that in lead zirconate titanate, and that the most significant structural change as a function of composition occurs at x=0.2 because of the change of the tilt system. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.

Abstract:

Coherent lattice vibrations are excited and probed with pulses of 10 fs duration in LaMnO(3). The measured frequencies correspond to those of Jahn-Teller stretching and of out-of phase rotations of the oxygen octahedra. Surprisingly, the amplitude and damping rate of both modes exhibit a sharp discontinuity at the Néel temperature, highlighting nontrivial coupling between light, lattice, and magnetic structure. We explain this effect by applying the Goodenough-Kanamori rules to the excited state of LaMnO(3), and note that charge transfer can invert the sign of the semicovalent exchange interaction, which in turn perturbs the equilibrium bond lengths.

Abstract:

Spin ice materials are magnetic substances in which the spin directions map onto hydrogen positions in water ice. Recently this analogy has been elevated to an electromagnetic equivalence, indicating that the spin ice state is a Coulomb phase, with magnetic monopole excitations analogous to ice's mobile ionic defects. No Coulomb phase has yet been proved in a real magnetic material, as the key experimental signature is difficult to resolve in most systems. Here we measure the scattering of polarised neutrons from the prototypical spin ice Ho2Ti2O7. This enables us to separate different contributions to the magnetic correlations to clearly demonstrate the existence of an almost perfect Coulomb phase in this material. The temperature dependence of the scattering is consistent with the existence of deconfined magnetic monopoles connected by Dirac strings of divergent length.