Reply to: Comment by S.-L. Drechsler et al. (arXiv:1006.5070v1)

TL;DR

This paper defends previous findings on LiCuVO4's magnetic properties against a comment that challenges the ferromagnetic interaction strength, reaffirming the original conclusions through analysis and new results.

Contribution

The authors refute the comment's claims by demonstrating inconsistencies with experimental data and providing supporting evidence for their original model.

Findings

The new calculations contradict observed magnetic structures.

Analysis shows the comment's susceptibility analysis is incomplete.

Exact diagonalization supports the existence of a four-spinon continuum.

Abstract

In a comment on arXiv:1006.5070v1, Drechsler et al. present new band-structure calculations suggesting that the frustrated ferromagnetic spin-1/2 chain LiCuVO4 should be described by a strong rather than weak ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor interaction, in contradiction with their previous calculations. In our reply, we show that their new results are at odds with the observed magnetic structure, that their analysis of the static susceptibility neglects important contributions, and that their criticism of the spin-wave analysis of the bound-state dispersion is unfounded. We further show that their new exact diagonalization results reinforce our conclusion on the existence of a four-spinon continuum in LiCuVO4, see Enderle et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104 (2010) 237207.