Interchain impurity substitution effects on the magnetoelastic coupling in CuGeO3

We report the polarized far-infrared transmittance of Si-doped CuGeO₃ single crystals as a function of impurity concentration and applied magnetic field at low temperature. We use the behavior of the 44 cm⁻¹ spin gap excitation and the 98 cm⁻¹ zone-folding mode structure to investigate the interaction between the magnetic system and the lattice distortion. We find that interchain impurity substitution collapses the spin gap before it suppresses the lattice dimerization, a result that is understood in terms of the relative length scales for lattice distortion and spin singlet formation as well as criteria for magnetoelastic coupling in chains.