4 Search Results

We present microscopic magnetic properties of a two-dimensional triangular lattice Sc₂Ga₂CuO₇, consisting of single and double triangular Cu planes. An antiferromagnetic (AFM) exchange interaction J/k_B ≈ 35 K between Cu²⁺ (S = 1/2) spins in the triangular biplane is obtained from the analysis of intrinsic magnetic susceptibility data. The intrinsic magnetic susceptibility, extracted from ⁷¹Ga NMR shift data, displays the presence of AFM short range spin correlations and remains finite down to 50 mK, suggesting a nonsinglet ground state. The nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate (1/T₁) reveals a slowing down of Cu²⁺ spin fluctuations with decreasing T down to 100 mK.more » Magnetic specific heat (C_m) and 1/T₁ exhibit power law behavior at low temperatures, implying the gapless nature of the spin excitation spectrum. The absence of long range magnetic ordering down to ~J/700, nonzero spin susceptibility at low T, and the power law behavior of C_m and 1/T₁ suggest a gapless quantum spin liquid (QSL) state. Our results demonstrate that persistent spin dynamics induced by frustration maintain a quantum-disordered state at T → 0 in this triangular lattice antiferromagnet. Furthermore, this suggests that the low energy modes are dominated by spinon excitations in the QSL state due to randomness engendered by disorder and frustration.« less

In this study, PbCuTe₂O₆ is a rare example of a spin liquid candidate featuring a three-dimensional magnetic lattice. Strong geometric frustration arises from the dominant antiferromagnetic interaction that generates a hyperkagome network of Cu²⁺ ions although additional interactions enhance the magnetic lattice connectivity. Through a combination of magnetization measurements and local probe investigations by NMR and muon spin relaxation down to 20 mK, we provide robust evidence for the absence of magnetic freezing in the ground state. The local spin susceptibility probed by the NMR shift hardly deviates from the macroscopic one down to 1 K pointing to a homogeneousmore » magnetic system with a low defect concentration. The saturation of the NMR shift and the sublinear power law temperature (T) evolution of the 1/T₁ NMR relaxation rate at low T point to a nonsinglet ground state favoring a gapless fermionic description of the magnetic excitations. Below 1 K a pronounced slowing down of the spin dynamics is witnessed, which may signal a reconstruction of spinon Fermi surface. Nonetheless, the compound remains in a fluctuating spin liquid state down to the lowest temperature of the present investigation.« less

On 23rd November 2009, during the early commissioning of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), two counter-rotating proton bunches were circulated for the first time concurrently in the machine, at the LHC injection energy of 450 GeV per beam. Although the proton intensity was very low, with only one pilot bunch per beam, and no systematic attempt was made to optimize the collision optics, all LHC experiments reported a number of collision candidates. In the ALICE experiment, the collision region was centred very well in both the longitudinal and transverse directions and 284 events were recorded in coincidence with themore » two passing proton bunches. The events were immediately reconstructed and analyzed both online and offline. We have used these events to measure the pseudorapidity density of charged primary particles in the central region. In the range |η|<0.5, we obtain dN_ch/dη=3. 10±0. 13(stat.)±0.22(syst.) for all inelastic interactions, and dN_ch/dη=3.51±0. 15(stat.)±0. 25(syst.) for non-single diffractive interactions. These results are consistent with previous measurements in proton-antiproton interactions at the same centre-of-mass energy at the CERN Sp$$\bar{p}$$S collider. They also illustrate the excellent functioning and rapid progress of the LHC accelerator, and of both the hardware and software of the ALICE experiment, in this early start-up phase.« less