Wednesday, June 13, 2012

1206.2603 (M. M. Altarawneh et al.)

A cascade of magnetic field induced spin transitions in LaCoO3    [PDF]

M. M. Altarawneh, G. -W. Chern, N. Harrison, C. D. Batista, A. Uchida, M. Jaime, D. G. Rickel, S. A. Crooker, C. H. Mielke, J. B. Betts, J. F. Mitchell, M. J. R. Hoch
We present magnetization and magnetostriction studies of the insulating perovskite LaCoO3 in magnetic fields approaching 100 T. In marked contrast with expectations from single-ion models, the data reveal two distinct first-order spin transitions and well-defined magnetization plateaux. The magnetization at the higher plateau is only about half the saturation value expected for spin-1 Co3+ ions. These findings strongly suggest collective behavior induced by strong interactions between different electronic -- and therefore spin -- configurations of Co3+ ions. We propose a model of these interactions that predicts crystalline spin textures and a cascade of four magnetic phase transitions at high fields, of which the first two account for the experimental data.
View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1206.2603

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