Hyungje Woo

Quantum magnetic excitations from stripes in copper oxide superconductors

In the copper oxide parent compounds of the high-transition-temperature superconductors the valence electrons are localized—one per copper site—by strong intra-atomic Coulomb repulsion. A symptom of this localization is antiferromagnetism, where the spins of localized electrons alternate between up and down. Superconductivity appears when mobile ‘holes’ are doped into this insulating state, and it coexists with antiferromagnetic fluctuations. In one approach to describing the coexistence, the holes are believed to self-organize into ‘stripes’ that alternate with antiferromagnetic (insulating) regions within copper oxide planes, which would necessitate an unconventional mechanism of superconductivity. There is an apparent problem with this picture, however: measurements of magnetic excitations in superconducting YBa2Cu3O6+x near optimum doping are incompatible with the naive expectations for a material with stripes. Here we report neutron scattering measurements on stripe-ordered La1.875Ba0.125CuO4. We show that the measured excitations are, surprisingly, quite similar to those in YBa2Cu3O6+x (refs 9, 10) (that is, the predicted spectrum of magnetic excitations is wrong). We find instead that the observed spectrum can be understood within a stripe model by taking account of quantum excitations. Our results support the concept that stripe correlations are essential to high-transition-temperature superconductivity.

Single-crystal neutron diffuse scattering and Monte Carlo study of the relaxor ferroelectric PbZn1/3Nb2/3O3 (PZN)

Full three-dimensional diffuse neutron scattering data have been recorded from a single crystal of Pb(Zn 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 (PZN) at 300 K using the time-of-flight Laue technique on the SXD single-crystal instrument at ISIS. The data show a series of diffuse rods of scattering oriented parallel to each of the six (11 0) crystal directions. Monte Carlo simulation has been used to demonstrate that the diffuse rods are caused by planar nanodomains oriented normal to the (1 1 0) directions. Within these domains, there are correlated displacements of the atoms away from their average site positions. In order to explain the systematic absence of some rods of scattering in the (h k 1) data but the presence of all rods in the (h k 0) data, it is necessary that the displacement of an O atom is of opposite sign to that of its neighbouring Pb atoms. This is explained in terms of a model based on the fact that Pb 2+ possesses a lone pair of electrons, giving the Pb ion directionality.

Spontaneous decays of magneto-elastic excitations in non-collinear antiferromagnet (Y,Lu)MnO3

Magnons and phonons are fundamental quasiparticles in a solid and can be coupled together to form a hybrid quasi-particle. However, detailed experimental studies on the underlying Hamiltonian of this particle are rare for actual materials. Moreover, the anharmonicity of such magnetoelastic excitations remains largely unexplored, although it is essential for a proper understanding of their diverse thermodynamic behaviour and intrinsic zero-temperature decay. Here we show that in non-collinear antiferromagnets, a strong magnon–phonon coupling can significantly enhance the anharmonicity, resulting in the creation of magnetoelastic excitations and their spontaneous decay. By measuring the spin waves over the full Brillouin zone and carrying out anharmonic spin wave calculations using a Hamiltonian with an explicit magnon–phonon coupling, we have identified a hybrid magnetoelastic mode in (Y,Lu)MnO3 and quantified its decay rate and the exchange-striction coupling term required to produce it.

Spin excitations in stripe-ordered La2−xSrxNiO4 (x=0.275 and )

Abstract We report neutron scattering measurements of the spectrum of magnetic excitations in the stripe-ordered phase of La 2− x Sr x NiO 4 ( x =0.275 and 1 3 ). The propagating spin excitations follow a similar dispersion relation for the two compositions, but the line widths are broader for x =0.275 than for 1 3 .