Publication

Field-Induced Quantum Soliton Lattice in a Frustrated Two-Leg Spin-1/2 Ladder

Abstract

Based on high-field 31P nuclear magnetic resonance experiments and accompanying numerical calculations, it is argued that in the frustrated S=1/2 ladder compound BiCu2PO6 a field-induced soliton lattice develops above a critical field of μ0Hc1=20.96(7) T. Solitons result from the fractionalization of the S=1, bosonlike triplet excitations, which in other quantum antiferromagnets are commonly known to experience Bose-Einstein condensation or to crystallize in a superstructure. Unlike in spin-Peierls systems, these field-induced quantum domain walls do not arise from a state with broken translational symmetry and are triggered exclusively by magnetic frustration. Our model predicts yet another second-order phase transition at Hc2>Hc1, driven by soliton-soliton interactions, most likely corresponding to the one observed in recent magnetocaloric and other bulk measurements.

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Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that occur through a magnetic field, which allows objects to attract or repel each other. Because both electric currents and magnetic moments of elementary particles give rise to a magnetic field, magnetism is one of two aspects of electromagnetism. The most familiar effects occur in ferromagnetic materials, which are strongly attracted by magnetic fields and can be magnetized to become permanent magnets, producing magnetic fields themselves.
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