Electronic superconductor Pr2CuO4−x Fx: Magnetic correlations at high temperatures (150<T<600 K) according to 19F NMR data

The longitudinal and transverse relaxation rates of ¹⁹F nuclei in Pr₂CuO_4−x F_x (x=0.20) samples are measured at high temperatures (150 K<T<600 K). A feature is found in the temperature dependence of the relaxation rates at temperature T′≅300 K. The magnetic properties of the electronic superconductor Pr₂CuO_4−x F_x as a possible system with a stripe ordering of carriers and spins are discussed. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 65, No. 4, 328–332 (25 February 1997)     

Low-frequency lattice dynamics in Ba1−x KxBiO3 oxides according to 39K NMR data

The spin-lattice relaxation times T ₁ in Ba_1−x K_xBiO₃ (x=0.3, 0.4, 0.5) were measured in the normal temperature range (20–300 K).A substantial contribution to the spin-lattice relaxation rate from dynamic local distortions of the crystal lattice near potassium atoms is found. The activation energy of this process increases with decreasing potassium concentration, and the frequency of lattice excitations decreases. The nature of the low-frequency lattice dynamics is discussed. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 70, No. 5, 344–349 (10 September 1999)     

Behavior of sound velocities in the compounds La1−x SrxMnO3 near magnetic and structural phase transitions

The temperature dependences of the transverse V _t and longitudinal V _l sound velocities in single crystals of the perovskites La_1−x Sr_xMnO₃ (x=0.1, 0.175, 0.2, 0.25) in the temperature interval T=70–350 K are investigated by the resonance method. Anomalies — small minima and kinks in the temperature dependences V _l (T) and V _t (T) — are observed at the Curie points. A strong jumplike increase (by up to 30%) in both the longitudinal and transverse sound velocities, which attests to sizable hardening of the acoustic branches of the phonon spectrum, is observed near the temperatures of the structural transitions between the rhombohedral and orthorhombic phases (for x=0.175, 0.2, 0.25) and at the phase transition to the polaron-ordered state (for x=0.1). Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 68, No. 2, 141–146 (25 July 1998)     

Field dependence of spin-lattice relaxation of Nd3+ ions in Y3Al5O12 crystals

Our studies involve measuring spin-lattice relaxation times for Nd³⁺ ions in yttrium-aluminum garnets over the temperature range 4–50 K at 9.25 and 36.4 GHz for different orientations of the external magnetic field in relation to the crystallographic axes. The temperature dependence of the relaxation rate is described by T ₁ ⁻¹ =AT ⁿ+b exp(−Δ/kT), where n varies from sample to sample, with n=1 for “perfect” samples (i.e., with the longest relaxation times). Here Δ is approximately 130 cm⁻¹, which is the energy of the excited Kramers doublet of the neodymium ion closest to the ground state, and this makes it possible to interpret the second term in T ₁ ⁻¹ as the contribution of two-stage relaxation proceeding through the intermediate level Δ. A strong field dependence of these processes has been discovered: when the frequency was increased fourfold, the relaxation rate increased by a factor of 10. The effect is a specific manifestation of the degeneracy of the excited level, breaking of the symmetry of the crystalline field due to lattice defects, and the prevalence of deformations of a certain type in the spin-lattice interaction. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 111, 332–343 (January 1997)     

Paramagnetic labeling as a method for the soft spectroscopy of electronic states

A self-consistent microscopic theory of the relaxation of the crystal-field levels of an impurity ion in a state with an integer valence implanted in a normal metal is devised. A microscopic approach based on the Coqblin-Schrieffer-Cooper approach, rather than the formal model of the sf exchange interaction, makes it possible to take into account the specific details of both the crystal-field states of the impurity ion and the electronic band spectrum of the metal. A new method for the soft spectroscopy of electronic states based on measurements of the temperature dependence of the width Γ_MM′(T) of transitions between the crystal-field states |M〉 of a paramagnetic ion implanted in the compound being studied is proposed. To make specific use of this method in neutron and optical spectroscopy, a classification of the types of temperature dependence of the natural relaxation width γ _M (T) of the levels is devised, and procedures for possible experimental methods are proposed. A nonzero value of the natural relaxation width γ _G (T) of the crystal-field ground state | G〉 of an impurity ion at zero temperature is obtained within the proposed self-consistent model, but is beyond the scope of perturbation theory. It is shown that the widely accepted estimate of the characteristic temperature of Kondo systems T*=Γ _G(T=0)/2 from the quasielastic scattering width at zero temperature Γ _G (T=0)/2 is incorrect in the case of strong relaxation in a system with soft crystal fields. The proposed model is applied to the quantitative analysis of the relaxation of the crystal-field levels of paramagnetic Pr³⁺ ions implanted in CeAl₃ and LaAl₃. The results of the calculations are in quantitative agreement with the experimental data. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 113, 1843–1865 (May 1998)     

Slow relaxation experiments in disordered charge and spin density waves: collective dynamics of randomly distributed solitons

We show that the dynamics of disordered charge density waves (CDWs) and spin density waves (SDWs) is a collective phenomenon. The very low temperature specific heat relaxation experiments are characterized by: (i) “interrupted” ageing (meaning that there is a maximal relaxation time); and (ii) a broad power-law spectrum of relaxation times which is the signature of a collective phenomenon. We propose a random energy model that can reproduce these two observations and from which it is possible to obtain an estimate of the glass cross-over temperature (typically T _g≃ 100-200 mK). The broad relaxation time spectrum can also be obtained from the solutions of two microscopic models involving randomly distributed solitons. The collective behavior is similar to domain growth dynamics in the presence of disorder and can be described by the dynamical renormalization group that was proposed recently for the one dimensional random field Ising model [D.S. Fisher, P. Le Doussal, C. Monthus, Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 3539 (1998)]. The typical relaxation time scales like ∼τexp(T _g/T). The glass cross-over temperature T_g related to correlations among solitons is equal to the average energy barrier and scales like T _g∼ 2xξΔ. x is the concentration of defects, ξ the correlation length of the CDW or SDW and Δ the charge or spin gap. Received 12 December 2001     

Longitudinal nuclear spin relaxation in solids in a triply rotating coordinate system: Selective observation of the multispin dipole contribution

The longitudinal nuclear spin relaxation in an effective magnetic field H _e3 acting in a triply rotating coordinate system is recorded. Rotating and doubly rotating coordinate systems are employed for strong suppression of the secular nuclear dipole interactions in the first two orders and for separation of higher-order interactions (four-and five-spin). Experiments on protons in polycrystalline benzene showed that the contribution of such multispin dipole interactions to this relaxation can be observed selectively as a pronounced local minimum in the temperature dependence of the relaxation time. This contribution correponds to ultraslow molecular motions with rates ≃ γH _e3≃2π(10¹−10³) s⁻¹ and can be employed to study such motions in detail, including for purposes of identification of the form of the motion. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 64, No. 5, 335–340 (10 September 1996)     

Elastic properties of ultrahard fullerites

The elastic properties of C₆₀ fullerite samples synthesized under pressure P=13.0 GPa at high temperatures were investigated using acoustic microscopy. The velocities of longitudinal (c _L=17–26 km/s) and transverse (c _T=7.2–9.6 km/s) elastic waves in the samples were measured. It was established that the longitudinal sound velocity of ultrahard fullerites is higher than that of any other known solid. The bulk modulus of these ultrahard samples is higher than that of diamond and reaches a value greater than 1 TPa. The high bulk modulus, the relatively large shear moduli, and the substantial Poisson ratio indicate that the structure of the ultrahard fullerites is fundamentally different from that of diamond. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 114, 1365–1374 (October 1998)     

μ+SR Study of Ordering Phenomena in the Heavy-Fermion State of Ce3Pd20Ge6

Magnetic and quadrupolar ordering phenomena in a Ce₃Pd₂₀Ge₆ single crystal have been investigated by muon spin rotation/relaxation (μ⁺SR) spectroscopy. We have observed spontaneous precession of muons in zero-field below T _N =0.7 K in the antiferromagnetic state. The precession frequency follows the power law: ν(T)=ν(0)(1−T/T _N ) ⁿ . The exponent n=0.43(2) is close to the mean-field value of 0.5. The muon longitudinal spin relaxation rate 1/T ₁ is found to be nearly independent of temperature in the range of 0.3 to 2 K, i.e., across either T _N or T _Q =1.2 K, the quadrupolar ordering temperature. Two likely mechanisms for the temperature independent behavior of 1/T ₁ are suggested. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Spin susceptibility of neutron-irradiation-disordered YBa2Cu3O6.9 in the normal and superconducting states

The spin-spin relaxation rate ⁶³ T ₂ ⁻¹ of ⁶³Cu nuclei in CuO₂ layers is measured in the normal and superconducting states of the compound YBa₂Cu₃O_6.9 (T _c ^onset =94 K) subjected to radiation-induced disordering by a fast-neutron flux Φ to T _c ^onset =68 K (Φ=7×10¹⁸ cm⁻²) and T _c ^onset <4 K (Φ=12×10¹⁸ cm⁻²). It is found that as the structural disorder increases, the contribution of the indirect spin-spin interaction ⁶³ T _2G ⁻¹ , which is related to the value of the spin susceptibility at the boundary of the Brillouin zone of the copper planes χ_s(q={π/a; π/a}), decreases slightly at the transition to the superconducting state for the initial sample and remains unchanged for the weakly disordered sample. This behavior of the short-wavelength contribution to the spin susceptibility attests to the stability of the x ²−y ² symmetry of the energy gap against structural disorder, in accordance with proposed theoretical models of Cooper pairing for high-T _c cuprates. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 67, No. 3, 172–177 (10 February 1998)     

Theoretical analysis of the thermal conductivity of high-temperature superconductors

Summary The thermal conductivity of YBa₂Cu₃O_7−δ high-T _c superconductor is analysed self-consistently on both normal and superconducting states on the base of the Bardeen-Rickayzen-Tewordt extended theory to take into account the effects of magnetic field and superconducting fluctuations. It is shown that experimental data are in a quantitative agreement with theory even if the number and variation intervals of adjustable parameters are substantially reduced in comparison with previous works. Phonon relaxation rates due to different mechanisms of phonon scattering as well as the parameters of electron-phonon interaction are estimated. It is shown that thermal conductivity in YBa₂Cu₃O_7−δ is consistent with the BCS model with intermediate electron-phonon coupling λ=1–3 the phonon-electron and electron-phonon relaxation times near critical temperature are evaluated to be 10⁻¹⁰s and 10⁻¹²s, respectively.     

Investigation of low-temperature quantum diffusion in α-iron byμ + SR experiments on a single-crystal sphereSR experiments on a single-crystal sphere

The longitudinalμ ⁺-spin relaxation rate has been measured on a high-purity spherical α-iron single crystal at temperaturesT down to 20 mK and in applied magnetic fieldsB _appl parallel to 〈111〉 up to 3 T. Only above 1 K can the data be satisfactorily described by one rate constantГ. At 1 T≤B _appl≤2 T and 50 mK≤T≤300 mK, oscillations (“wiggles”) were in addition superimposed on the longitudinal relaxation. A qualitative understanding of the measurements may be achieved in terms of the increasing influence of internal stresses onμ ⁺ diffusion as the temperature is lowered.     

Decay of transient nutation in two-level spin systems

This paper reports the results of an experimental study of the decay of transient NMR nutations in a two-level spin system with homogeneous line broadening. The NMR nutation signals in glycerin were studied for 10⩽ω ₁ T ₂⩽150, where ω ₁=γH ₁, with γ the gyromagnetic ratio and H ₁ the amplitude of the magnetic component of the radio-frequency field, and T ₂ is the transverse relaxation time. It is found that in a high-power field (ω ₁ T ₂≫1) the nutation decay rate is independent of ω ₁ and is quantitatively described by Bloch’s model. The data is compared with the data on non-Bloch (ω ₁-dependent) EPR-nutation decay in quartz (R. Boscaino, F. M. Gelardi, and J. P. Corb, Phys. Rev. B 48, 7077 (1993)). Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 111, 1207–1213 (April 1997)     

Hyperfine field relaxations in the Fe−Co−B amorphous alloys

A systematic increase of the average hyperfine magnetic induction at⁵⁷Fe measured at room temperature during interrupted isothermal annealing was found to be inherent to the irreversible relaxation processes in the Fe−B based soft magnetic alloys at moderately elevated temperatures. Assuming superimposed asymptotic exponential field vs. time dependences. several processes can be distinguished, their relaxation times determined and from the Arrhenius-like log τ vs. 1/T plots average activation enthalpies estimated. Results on the Fe₇₀Co₁₀B₂₀ and Fe_85−x Co _x B₁₅ (x=17, 19 and 21 at. % Co) amorphous ribbons between 100 and 200°C are compared and discussed in terms of possible stress relief, free volume annihilation and short range ordering mechanisms.     

The Effect of the Number of Simulations on the Exponents Obtained by Finite-Size Scaling Relations of the Order Parameter and the Magnetic Susceptibility for the Four-Dimensional Ising Model on the Creutz Cellular Automaton

The four-dimensional Ising model is simulated on the Creutz cellular automaton using finite-size lattices with linear dimension 4≤L≤8. The exponents in the finite-size scaling relations for the order parameter and the magnetic susceptibility at the finite-lattice critical temperature are computed to be β=0.49(7), β=0.49(5), β=0.50(1) and γ=1.04(4), γ=1.03(4), γ=1.02(4) for 7, 14, and 21 independent simulations, respectively. As the number of independent simulations increases, the obtained results are consistent with the renormalization group predictions of β=0.5 and γ=1. The values for the critical temperature of the infinite lattice T _c (∞)=6.6788(65), T _c (∞)=6.6798(69), T _c (∞)=6.6802(70) are obtained from the straight-line fit of the magnetic susceptibility maxima using 4≤L≤8 for 7, 14, and 21 independent simulations, respectively. As the number of independent simulations increases, the obtained results are in very good agreement with the series expansion results of T _c (∞)=6.6817(15), T _c (∞)=6.6802(2), the dynamic Monte Carlo result of T _c (∞)=6.6803(1), the cluster Monte Carlo result of T _c (∞)=6.680(1) and the Monte Carlo using Metropolis and Wolff-cluster algorithm result of T _c (∞)=6.6802632±5×10⁻⁵.     

ESR millimeter-band spectroscopy of magnetic ordering in the low-dimensional magnet CuGeO3

Resonant absorption of microwaves in CuGeO₃ single crystals in a frequency band of 40 to 120 GHz, in magnetic field B⩽15 T, at temperatures ranging between 0.5 and 300 K, and in the configuration B∥a has been investigated. Several absorption lines (S ₀, S _a, and S _b) whose parameters strongly depend on temperature have been detected close to ESR. The temperature dependence of the total absorption in the main line S ₀ with the Landé g-factor g ₀=2.154 at temperatures above the spin-Peierls transition temperature is in good agreement with Bonner and Fisher’s theoretical prediction for a one-dimensional Heisenberg spin chain. In addition to the main resonance, a resonance of smaller amplitude, S _a, with the g-factor g _a=2.72 has been detected at temperatures ranging down to a characteristic temperature T≃1 K, below which the amplitude of this feature drops to zero. A radical restructuring of the magnetoabsorption spectrum occurs at the temperature of the spin-Peierls transition T _SP≈14 K. At T<12 K new features emerge in the spectrum, namely, a broad absorption line overlapping with the narrow lines S ₀ and S _a, and a line S _b with g _b=1.83, which is not detected at temperatures above T _SP. An analysis of amplitudes and total absorption of ESR lines as functions of temperature has shown that the temperature range below 1 K is anomalous, which may be caused by an additional ordering in the CuGeO₃ magnetic subsystem at low temperatures. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 112, 1727–1738 (November 1997)     

Thermal conductivity of crystalline fullerite C60 in the simple cubic phase

The behavior of the thermal conductivity k(T) of bulk faceted fullerite C₆₀ crystals is investigated at temperatures T=8–220 K. The samples are prepared by the gas-transport method from pure C₆₀, containing less than 0.01% impurities. It is found that as the temperature decreases, the thermal conductivity of the crystal increases, reaches a maximum at T=15–20 K, and drops by a factor of ∼2, proportional to the change in the specific heat, on cooling to 8 K. The effective phonon mean free path λ _p, estimated from the thermal conductivity and known from the published values of the specific heat of fullerite, is comparable to the lattice constant of the crystal λ _p∼d=1.4 nm at temperatures T>200 K and reaches values λ_p∼50d at T<15 K, i.e., the maximum phonon ranges are limited by scattering on defects in the volume of the sample in the simple cubic phase. In the range T=25−75 K the observed temperature dependence k(T) can be described by the expression k(T)∼exp(Θ/bT), characteristic for the behavior of the thermal conductivity of perfect nonconducting crystals at temperatures below the Debye temperature Θ (Θ=80 K in fullerite), where umklapp phonon-phonon scattering processes predominate in the volume of the sample. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 65, No. 8, 651–656 (25 April 1997)     

Phenomenological theory of the magnetoelectric effect in some boracites

An explanation is given for the narrow peak in the temperature dependence of the component α ₃₂ of the magnetoelectric effect tensor near the transition at T=T _c to the m′m2′ phase observed in the boracites. A phenomenological approach is used which is based on the symmetry of the cubic phase of the crystals. The change in the sign of α ₂₃ and α ₃₂ observed in some of the boracites as the temperature is lowered is attributed to the low value of T _c. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 111, 536–546 (February 1997)     

Dielectric relaxation in Bi12SiO20 crystals

Anomalies of the dielectric properties of undoped and aluminum-and gallium-doped crystals of Bi₁₂SiO₂₀ are investigated in the frequency and temperature range ν=10²–10⁸ Hz and T=300–800 K. They are shown to be due to Debye relaxation processes and determined by the relaxor parameters. The mechanism of electron thermal polarization is discussed. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 39, 1223–1229 (July 1997)     

Direct measurements of energy relaxation times on an AlGaAs/GaAs heterointerface in the range 4.2–50 K

The temperature dependence of the energy relaxation time τ_e (T) of a two-dimensional electron gas at an AlGaAs/GaAs heterointerface is measured under quasiequilibrium conditions in the region of the transition from scattering by acoustic phonons to scattering with the participation of optical phonons. The temperature interval of constant τ_e, where scattering by the deformation potential predominates, is determined. In the preceding, low-temperature region, where piezoacoustic and deformation-potential-induced scattering processes coexist, τ _e decreases slowly with increasing temperature. Optical phonons start to participate in the scattering processes at T∼25 K (the characteristic phonon lifetime was equal to τ_LOτ4.5 ps). The energy losses calculated from the τ_e data in a model with an effective nonequilibrium electron temperature agree with the published data obtained under strong heating conditions. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 64, No. 5, 371–375 (10 September 1996)