Metamagnetism and soliton excitations in the modulated ferromagnetic Ising chain CoV2O6

TL;DR

This study investigates the magnetic properties and excitations in the one-dimensional CoV2O6 Ising chain, revealing metamagnetism, soliton excitations, and complex magnetic order through combined experimental techniques.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the magnetic excitations and ordering phenomena in CoV2O6, highlighting the presence of deconfined solitons and a crossover in magnetic states.

Findings

Discovery of a 1/3 magnetization plateau between 2-5 K.

Identification of deconfined soliton excitations above Tn.

Observation of incommensurate long-range antiferromagnetic order.

Abstract

We report a combination of physical property and neutron scattering measurements for polycrystalline samples of the one-dimensional spin chain compound CoV2O6. Heat capacity measurements show that an effective S = 1/2 state is found at low temperatures and that magnetic fluctuations persist up to 6.Tn. Above Tn = 6.3 K, measurements of the magnetic susceptibility as a function of T and H show that the nearest neighbour exchange is ferromagnetic. In the ordered state, we have discovered a crossover from a metamagnet with strong fluctuations between 5 K and Tn to a state with a 1/3 magnetisation plateau at 2 < T < 5 K. We use neutron powder diffraction measurements to show that the AFM state has incommensurate long range order and inelastic time of flight neutron scattering to examine the magnetic fluctuations as a function of temperature. Above Tn, we find two broad bands between 3.5 and 5 meV and thermally activated low energy features which correspond to transitions within these bands. These features show that the excitations are deconfined solitons rather than the static spin reversals predicted for a uniform FM Ising spin chain. Below Tn, we find a ladder of states due to the confining effect of the internal field. A region of weak confinement below Tn, but above 5 K, is identified which may correspond to a crossover between 2D and 3D magnetic ordering.