Magnon and Soliton Excitations in the Carrier-Poor, One-Dimensional S=1/2 Antiferromagnet Yb4As3 |
| F. Steglich, M. Köppen, P. Gegenwart, T. Cichorek, B. Wand, M. Lang, P. Thalmeier, B. Schmidt Max-Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, 01187 Dresden, Germany H. Aoki and A. Ochiai Department of Material Science and Technology, Niigata 950-21, Japan |
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| The semimetallic quasi-one-dimensional S=1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet Yb4As3 was studied by low-temperature measurements of the specific heat C(T,B), thermal expansion α(T,B), and thermal conductivity ĸ(T,B). At finite magnetic fields (B≤12 T) we observed the following distinct anomalies: (1) the magnon contribution to C(T,0), γ T, with large coefficient γ ≈ 200 mJ/(K2mol), becomes strongly reduced with field, and (2) a broad hump in C(T,B=const) is induced at slightly higher temperatures. (3) The latter corresponds to a pronounced peak in α(T,B=const) as well as (4) to a broad minimum in ĸ(T,B= const)/ĸ(T,0). These anomalies are well described by the classical sine-Gordon solution of a one-dimensional Heisenberg antiferromagnet with a weak easy-plane anisotropy. However, the soliton-rest energy deduced from the experimental results depends on the magnetic field like ES ~ Bν, with an exponent ν ≈ 0.66, while the classical sine-Gordon model requires ν=1. Thus, our results suggest an alternative description of soliton excitations in an antiferromagnetic S=1/2 Heisenberg chain in terms of the quantum sine-Gordon model, for which an exponent ν=2/3 is appropriate. |
| DOI: 10.12693/APhysPolA.97.91 PACS numbers: 75.30.Mb, 65.50.+m, 65.70.+y |