Spin glass and ferromagnetism in Kondo lattice compounds

The Kondo lattice model has been analyzed in the presence of a random inter-site interaction among localized spins with non zero mean J₀ and standard deviation J. Following the same framework previously introduced by us, the problem is formulated in the path integral formalism where the spin operators are expressed as bilinear combinations of Grassmann fields. The static approximation and the replica symmetry ansatz have allowed us to solve the problem at a mean field level. The resulting phase diagram displays several phase transitions among a ferromagnetically ordered region,a spin glass one, a mixed phase and a Kondo state depending on J₀, J and its relation with the Kondo interaction coupling J_K. These results could be used to address part of the experimental data for the CeNi _{1 - x} Cu _x compound, when x ⩽ 0.8. Received 24 June 2002 Published online 31 December 2002     

Antiferromagnetic Ising spin glass competing with BCS pairing interaction in a transverse field

The competition among spin glass (SG), antiferromagnetism (AF) and local pairing superconductivity (PAIR) is studied in a two-sublattice fermionic Ising spin glass model with a local BCS pairing interaction in the presence of an applied magnetic transverse field Γ. In the present approach, spins in different sublattices interact with a Gaussian random coupling with an antiferromagnetic mean J₀ and standard deviation J. The problem is formulated in the path integral formalism in which spin operators are represented by bilinear combinations of Grassmann variables. The saddle-point Grand Canonical potential is obtained within the static approximation and the replica symmetric ansatz. The results are analysed in phase diagrams in which the AF and the SG phases can occur for small g (g is the strength of the local superconductor coupling written in units of J), while the PAIR phase appears as unique solution for large g. However, there is a complex line transition separating the PAIR phase from the others. It is second order at high temperature that ends in a tricritical point. The quantum fluctuations affect deeply the transition lines and the tricritical point due to the presence of Γ.     

Hyperfine fields on59Co in ReCo2

We report⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer measurements in the diluted antiferromagnetic (AF) Fe_xZn_1?xF₂ withx=0.25 at temperatures between 4.2 and 28 K. DC susceptibility measurements show a spin-glass (SG) phase at low temperatures forx?0.3. Our Mössbauer spectra show a competitive coexistence of an SG phase and AF order. We propose an interpretation in terms of clusters in the AF order and some spins exhibiting SG behavior.     

Level structure of 99Rh at high spins

High spins states in ⁹⁹Rh were populated via the ⁶⁶Zn(³⁷Cl, 2p2n)⁹⁹Rh reaction at an incident beam energy of 130 MeV. Seventeen new transitions have been observed in the present study and the level scheme has now been extended up to a spin of J∼ 25ħ and an excitation energy of about E _x∼ 10 MeV. The observation of a positive parity E2 cascade based on the 9/2⁺ isomeric level is suggestive of collective behaviour in this nucleus up to high spins. Spherical shell model (within restricted model space) and Cranked shell model calculations were performed to obtain an insight into the observed level structure. The new collective band observed up to a spin of J∼ 25ħ is suggested to be based on (πg _9/2 ³) ⊗ (νg _7/2 ²) quasi-particle excitations. Received: 12 July 1999 / Revised version: 14 September 1999     

Quantum fluctuations and ground state of weakly interacting helix spin chains in a magnetic field

Ferromagnetic spin chains of a hexagonal lattice coupled by a weak antiferromagnetic interaction J₁ develop a helix arrangement if the intrachain antiferromagnetic NNN exchange J₂ is sufficiently large. We show that the classical minimum energy spin configuration is an umbrella when an external magnetic field is applied. The scenario is dramatically changed by quantum fluctuations. Indeed we find that the zero point motion forces the spins in a plane containing the magnetic field so that classical expectation is deceptive for our model. Our result is obtained by controlled expansion in the low field-long wavelength modulation limit. Received: 9 September 1997 / Revised: 15 October 1997 / Accepted: 17 November 1997     

Quantum entanglement in elliptical quantum corrals

Quantum corrals present interesting properties due to the combination of confinement and, in the case of elliptical corrals, to their focalizing properties. We study the case when two magnetic impurities are added to the non-interacting corral, where they interact via a superexchange AF interaction J with the surface electrons in the ellipse. Previous results showed that, when both impurities are located at the foci of the system, they experience an enhanced magnetic interaction, as compared to the one they would have in an open surface. For small J and even filling, they are locked in a singlet state, which weakens for larger values of this parameter. When J is much larger than the hopping parameter of the electrons in the ellipse, both spins decorrelate while forming a local singlet with the electrons of the ellipse, thus presenting a confined RKKY–Kondo transition.We interpret this behaviour by means of the von Neumann entropy between the localized impurities and the itinerant electrons of the ellipse: for small J the entropy is nearly zero while for large J it is maximum. In addition, the local density of states provides us with a concrete experimental tool for detecting the Kondo regime.     

Fermionic Ising glasses with BCS pairing interaction. Tricritical behaviour

We have examined the role of the BCS pairing mechanism in the formation of the magnetic moment and henceforth a spin glass (SG) phase by studying a fermionic Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model with a local BCS coupling between the fermions. This model is obtained by using perturbation theory to trace out the conduction electrons degrees of freedom in conventional superconducting alloys. The model is formulated in the path integral formalism where the spin operators are represented by bilinear combinations of Grassmann fields and it reduces to a single site problem that can be solved within the static approximation with a replica symmetric ansatz. We argue that this is a valid procedure for values of temperature above the de Almeida-Thouless instability line. The phase diagram in the T-g plane, where g is the strength of the pairing interaction, for fixed variance J ² /N of the random couplings J_ij, exhibits three regions: a normal paramagnetic (NP) phase, a spin glass (SG) phase and a pairing (PAIR) phase where there is formation of local pairs.The NP and PAIR phases are separated by a second order transition line g=g _c (T) that ends at a tricritical point T ₃ =0.9807J, g ₃ =5,8843J, from where it becomes a first order transition line that meets the line of second order transitions at T _c =0.9570J that separates the NP and the SG phases. For T<T _c the SG phase is separated from the PAIR phase by a line of first order transitions. These results agree qualitatively with experimental data in . Received 14 May 1998     

Cooperative order and excitation spectra in the bicomponent spin networks

A ferrimagnetic spin model composed of S = 1/2 spin-dimers and S = 5/2 spin-chains is studied by combining the bond-operator representation (for S = 1/2 spin-dimers) and Holstein-Primakoff transformation (for S = 5/2 spins). A finite interaction J _DF between the spin-dimer and the spin chain makes the spin chains ordered antiferromagnetically and the spin dimers polarized. The effective interaction between the spin chains, mediated by the spin dimers, is calculated up to the third order. The staggered magnetization in the spin dimer is shown proportional to J _DF. Due to the triplon-magnon interaction, the degeneracy of the triplons is lifted and the hybridized triplon-like excitations show different behaviors near the vanishing J _DF. A mode with longitudinal polarization is identified. The hybridized magnon-like excitations are also studied. These results are compared with the experiments on Cu₂Fe₂Ge₄O₁₃.     

Dynamical interaction of antiferromagnetic subsystems: a neutron scattering study of the spinwave spectrum of the garnet Fe2Ca3(GeO4)3

The Fe³⁺ ions in the garnet Ca₃Fe₂Ge₃O₁₂ form two identical antiferromagnetic subsystems. The interaction between the two subsystems is vanishing within molecular field approximation forq=0. A coupling appears due to the spin fluctuations. The dynamics of the system is described by the Hamiltonian for a Heisenberg antiferromagnet. Symmetry requirements impose two exchange parameters between the sublattices (nearest neighbours)J ₁ in the direction of the 3-fold axis andJ' ₁ in the other three space diagonals. The interaction within each sublattice (second nearest neighbours) is described by the exchange parameterJ ₂. The measured spin wave dispersion curves for the three principal symmetry directions are very well reproduced by a model calculation withJ ₁=-0.909(9) K,J' ₁=-0.307(8) K andJ ₂=-0.615(2)K. The observed intensities are in agreement with predictions from the model. Forq0 the model predicts two acoustic branches going towards zero frequency. A calculation beyond linear spin wave theory forq=0 predicts a quantum gap for the lower acoustic branch. This gap has been found at 0.033(4) THz. An anisotropy gap of 0.007 THz has been taken from the literature.     

Bethe-Ansatz solution of a model for a mixed valent impurity with two magnetic configurations: Groundstate and thermodynamics

We consider a mixed valence impurity with two magnetic configurations of spinJ ₂ andJ ₁=J ₂±1/2, respectively, coupled bys-wave conduction electrons via a hybridization matrix element. The model contains theU limit of the non-degenerate Anderson model and the Kondo exchange Hamiltonian for arbitrary spin as special cases. The model is solved by Bethe's ansatz and the groundstate and the thermodynamic properties are discussed. The Kondo limit and the highT perturbation expansion are extracted from the thermodynamic Bethe-ansatz equations. The ground state is magnetic if neitherJ ₁ norJ ₂ is a singlet.Heisenberg fellow of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft     

Electrical resistivity and magnetoresistance of (NiAl)1−xMx,M = 3d transition metals23

Transport properties were investigated in (NiAl)_1?xM_x, M = 3d transition metals, in order to examine the extrinsic nature of NiAl. Experimental results are well described by the s?d exchange (Kondo) theory from which exchange energy J, Kondo temperature T_k, and spin value S were estimated. A comparison between our results and the results from dilute alloys is made.     

Quantum topological excitations: from the sawtooth lattice to the Heisenberg chain

From the recently determined structure of the delafossite YCuO_2.5, we argue that the Cu-O network has nearly independent Δ chains but with different interactions between the s = 1/2 spins. Motivated by this observation, we study the Δ chain for different ratios of the base-base and base-vertex interactions, J _bb/J _bv. By exact diagonalization and extrapolation, we show that the elementary excitation spectrum is the same for total spins S _tot = 0 and 1, but not for S _tot = 2, and has a gap only in the interval 0.4874(1) ⩽ J _bb/J _bv ⩽ 1.53(1). The gap, known to be dispersionless for J _bb = J _bv, is found to acquire increasing k-dependence as J _bb/J _bv moves away from unity. Received 29 October 2002 / Received in final form 14 January 2003 Published online 6 March 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: sblundell@cea.fr RID="b" ID="b"e-mail: nunezreg@lps.u-psud.fr     

Mean-Field Driven First-Order Phase Transitions in Systems with Long-Range Interactions

We consider a class of spin systems on ℤ ^d with vector valued spins (S _x ) that interact via the pair-potentials J _x,y S _x ⋅S _y . The interactions are generally spread-out in the sense that the J _x,y 's exhibit either exponential or power-law fall-off. Under the technical condition of reflection positivity and for sufficiently spread out interactions, we prove that the model exhibits a first-order phase transition whenever the associated mean-field theory signals such a transition. As a consequence, e.g., in dimensions d≥3, we can finally provide examples of the 3-state Potts model with spread-out, exponentially decaying interactions, which undergoes a first-order phase transition as the temperature varies. Similar transitions are established in dimensions d = 1,2 for power-law decaying interactions and in high dimensions for next-nearest neighbor couplings. In addition, we also investigate the limit of infinitely spread-out interactions. Specifically, we show that once the mean-field theory is in a unique “state,” then in any sequence of translation-invariant Gibbs states various observables converge to their mean-field values and the states themselves converge to a product measure.     

Spin dynamics for 2d Heisenberg antiferromagnets with combined easy-plane and Dzyaloshinsky interactions

We investigate the spin dynamics of the classical two-dimensional easy-plane Heisenberg antiferromagnet with an additional Dzyaloshinsky interaction, which serves as a simple model for Langmuir-Blodgett films of Mn (C₁₈H₃₅O₂)₂. By mapping the system onto a pure easy-plane model we discuss the corresponding spin wave and vortex dynamics. The additional Dzyaloshinsky interaction forces all spins to cant in a certain direction, which is the same for neighboring spins on different sublattices. This canting causes the presence of a second spin wave peak in the dynamical in-plane correlation function below the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperature T_KT and a second vortex central peak above T_KT. Using a vortex gas approach we explicitly calculate the contribution of the free vortices to several dynamical correlation functions. These results are compared to a combined Monte Carlo-Molecular Dynamics simulation on square lattices with different sizes. We also discuss the relevance of this simple model for describing the spin dynamics of Mn (C₁₈H₃₅O₂)₂.     

Detection of glutamate and glutamine (Glx) by turbo spectroscopic imaging

Turbo spectroscopic imaging (TSI) is a spin echo spectroscopic imaging technique in which two or more echoes are acquired per excitation to reduce the acquisition time. The application of TSI has primarily been limited to the detection of uncoupled spins because the signal from coupled spins is modulated as a function of echo time. In this work we demonstrate how the TSI sequence can be modified to observe spins like the C₂ protons of Glx (≈3.75 ppm) which are involved solely in weak-coupling interactions. The technique exploits the chemical shift displacement effect by employing TSI refocusing pulses that have bandwidths which are less than the chemical shift difference between the target spins and the spins to which they are weakly coupled. The modified TSI sequence rewinds the J-evolution of the target protons in the slice of interest independently of the echo time or echo spacing, thereby removing any signal variation between successive echoes (apart from T₂ relaxation effects). In this study we tailored the narrow-bandwidth TSI sequence for observation of the C₂ Glx protons. The echo time was experimentally optimized to minimize signal contamination from myo-inositol, and the efficacy of the method was verified on phantom solutions of Glx and on brain in vivo.     

Spin-flop coupling and exchange anisotropy in ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic bilayers

By investigating the antiferromagnetic spin configuration, the exchange anisotropy and the interfacial spin-flop coupling in ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic (FM/AF) bilayers have been discussed in detail. The results show that there are four possible cases for the AF spins, namely the reversible recovering case, irreversible half-rotating case, irreversible reversing and irreversible half-reversing cases. Moreover, the realization of the cases strongly depends on interface quadratic coupling, interface spin-flop (biquadratic) coupling and AF thickness. The magnetic phase diagram in terms of the AF thickness t_AF, the interfacial bilinear coupling J₁ and the spin-flop coupling J₂ has been constructed. The corresponding critical parameters in which the exchange bias will occur or approach saturation have been also presented. Specially, the small spin-flop exchange coupling may result in an exchange bias without the interfacial bilinear exchange coupling. However, in general, the spin-flop exchange coupling can weaken or eliminate the exchange bias, but always enhances the coercivity greatly.     

One-dimensional DLR invariant measures are regular

A system of infinite spins in one dimension is considered. The interaction is given by a pair potential –J _xyS_xS_y, whereS _x,S _y are the spins at the sitesx,y andJ _xy=J(|x–y|) whereJ(|x–y|) decreases asymptotically in an integrable way. The self-interaction makes the system superstable. It is proven that any invariant DLR measure for this system satisfies Ruelle's superstable estimates (regularity condition).     

Low-temperature properties of the Ce(Pd1−xNix) system

The influence of substituting Pd by Ni is described in Ce(Pd_1-xNi_x)₃ alloys with x taken up to about 0.25. Thermal and magnetization measurements point out a transition from a non-magnetic state (CePd₃) to a ferromagnetic state for x > 0.05, with a Curie temperature K. The Ce-L_2,3 absorption edges and magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) study reveals the coexistence of strong 4f hybridization and ferromagnetic order. The Ce-L_2,3 XMCD signal measured in CePd₃ demonstrates that in the Ce-based dense Kondo materials only the 4f¹ channel gives a magnetic response.Received: 2 September 2003, Published online: 15 March 2004PACS: 75.20.Hr Local moment in compounds and alloys; Kondo effect, valence fluctuations, heavy fermions - 75.30.Mb Valence fluctuation, Kondo lattice, and heavy-fermion phenomena - 71.10.Hf Non-Fermi-liquid ground states, electron phase diagrams and phase transitions in model systems