Spin-spin correlations of the spin-ladder compound (C$_5$H$_{12}$N)$_2$CuBr$_4$ measured by magnetostriction and comparison to Quantum Monte Carlo results

TL;DR

This study combines magnetostriction measurements with Quantum Monte Carlo simulations to analyze spin-spin correlations in a spin-ladder compound, revealing detailed quantum critical behavior and magnetoelastic couplings.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive experimental and theoretical analysis of spin-ladder quantum criticality, including a parameter-free description of thermal expansion near critical fields.

Findings

Excellent agreement between experiment and theory over wide temperature and field ranges.

Reconstruction of magnetoelastic couplings from spin-spin correlations.

Identification of strong singularities and quantum critical corrections affecting elastic properties.

Abstract

Magnetostriction and thermal expansion of the spin-ladder compound piperidinium copper bromide (C$_5$H$_{12}$N)$_2$CuBr$_4$ are analyzed in detail. We find perfect agreement between experiments and the theory of a two-leg spin ladder Hamiltonian for more than a decade in temperature and in a wide range of magnetic fields. Relating the magnetostriction along different crystallographic directions to two static spin-spin correlation functions, which we compute with Quantum Monte Carlo, allows us to reconstruct the magnetoelastic couplings of (C$_5$H$_{12}$N)$_2$CuBr$_4$. We especially focus on the quantum critical behavior near the two critical magnetic fields $H_{c1}$ and $H_{c2}$, which is characterized by strong singularities rooted in the low dimensionality of the critical spin-system. Extending our discussion in Lorenz et al [Phys. Rev. Lett., 100, 067208 (2008)], we show explicitly that the thermal expansion near the upper critical field $H_{c2}$ is quantitatively described by a parameter-free theory of one-dimensional, non-relativistic Fermions. We also point out that there exists a singular quantum critical correction to the elastic moduli. This correction is proportional to the magnetic susceptibility $\chi$ which diverges as $\chi \sim 1/\sqrt{T}$ at the critical fields and thus leads to a strong softening of the crystal.