O. A. Petrenko

Quantum tunneling of the magnetization in the Ising chain compound Ca3Co2O6

The magnetic behavior of the Ca3Co2O6 spin chain compound is characterized by a large Ising-like character of its ferromagnetic chains, set on a triangular lattice, that are antiferromagnetically coupled. At low temperature, T < 7 K, the 3D antiferromagnetic state evolves towards a spin frozen state. In this temperature range, magnetic field driven magnetization of single crystals (H // chains) exhibits stepped variations. The occurrence of these steps at regular intervals of the applied magnetic field, Hstep = 1.2 T, is reminiscent of the quantum tunneling of the magnetization (QTM) of molecular based magnets. Magnetization relaxation experiments also strongly support the occurrence of this quantum phenomenon. This first observation of QTM in a magnetic oxide belonging to the large family of A3BB′O6 compounds opens new opportunities to study a quantum effect in a very different class of materials from molecular magnets.

Nature of the magnetic order in Ca3Co2O6.

We present a detailed powder and single-crystal neutron diffraction study of the spin chain compound Ca3Co2O6. Below 25 K, the system orders magnetically with a modulated partially disordered antiferromagnetic structure. We give a description of the magnetic interactions in the system which is consistent with this magnetic structure. Our study also reveals that the long-range magnetic order coexists with a shorter-range order with a correlation length scale of approximately 180 angstroms in the ab plane. Remarkably, on cooling, the volume of material exhibiting short-range order increases at the expense of the long-range order.

The nature of the magnetic order in Ca3Co2O6

We present a detailed powder and single-crystal neutron diffraction study of the spin chain compound Ca3Co2O6. Below 25 K, the system orders magnetically with a modulated partially disordered antiferromagnetic structure. We give a description of the magnetic interactions in the system which is consistent with this magnetic structure. Our study also reveals that the long-range magnetic order coexists with a shorter-range order with a correlation length scale of approximately 180 angstroms in the ab plane. Remarkably, on cooling, the volume of material exhibiting short-range order increases at the expense of the long-range order.

Slow magnetic order-order transition in the spin chain antiferromagnet Ca3Co2O6.

Using powder neutron diffraction, we have discovered an unusual magnetic order-order transition in the Ising spin chain compound Ca3Co2O6. On lowering the temperature, an antiferromagnetic phase with a propagation vector k=(0.5,-0.5,1) emerges from a higher temperature spin density wave structure with k=(0,0,1.01). This transition occurs over an unprecedented time scale of several hours and is never complete.

High-magnetic-field behavior of the triangular-lattice antiferromagnetCuFeO2

The high magnetic field behaviour of the triangular lattice antiferromagnet CuFeO_2 is studied using single crystal neutron diffraction measurements in a field of up to 14.5 T and also by magnetisation measurements in a field of up to 12 T. At low temperature, two well-defined first order magnetic phase transitions are found in this range of applied magnetic field (H // c): at H_c1=7.6(3)/7.1(3) T and H_c2=13.2(1)/12.7(1) T when ramping the field up/down. In a field above H_c2 the magnetic Bragg peaks show unusual history dependence. In zero field T_N1=14.2(1) K separates a high temperature paramagnetic and an intermediate incommensurate structure, while T_N2=11.1(3) K divides an incommensurate phase from the low-temperature 4-sublattice ground state. The ordering temperature T_N1 is found to be almost field independent, while T_N2 decreases noticeably in applied field. The magnetic phase diagram is discussed in terms of the interactions between an applied magnetic field and the highly frustrated magnetic structure of CuFeO_2

Magnetocaloric effect in pyrochlore antiferromagnet Gd 2Ti 2O 7

An adiabatic demagnetization process is studied in

Electron spin resonance in the doped spin-Peierls compound

{\mathrm{Gd}}_{2}{\mathrm{Ti}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{7}

Single crystal growth of rare earth titanate pyrochlores

, a geometrically frustrated antiferromagnet on a pyrochlore lattice. In contrast to conventional paramagnetic salts, this compound can exhibit a temperature decrease by a factor of 10 in the temperature range below the Curie-Weiss constant. The most efficient cooling is observed in the field interval between 120 and

Revised magnetic properties of CuFeO2—a case of mistaken identity

60\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{kOe}

Single crystals of the anisotropic Kagomé staircase compounds Ni3V2O8 and Co3V2O8

corresponding to a crossover between saturated and spin-liquid phases. This phenomenon indicates that a considerable part of the magnetic entropy survives in the strongly correlated state. According to the theoretical model, this entropy is associated with a macroscopic number of local modes remaining gapless until the saturation field. Monte Carlo simulations on a classical spin model demonstrate good agreement with the experiment. The cooling power of the process is experimentally estimated with a view to possible technical applications. The results for