Quantum electric dipole glass and frustrated magnetism near a critical point in Li2ZrCuO4

E. Vavilova; A. S. Moskvin; Y. C. Arango; A. Sotnikov; S.-L. Drechsler; R. Klingeler; O. Volkova; A. Vasiliev; V. Kataev; B. Büchner

doi:10.1209/0295-5075/88/27001

All issues

Volume 88 / No 2 (October 2009)

EPL, 88 2 (2009) 27001

Abstract

Issue		EPL Volume 88, Number 2, October 2009


Article Number		27001
Number of page(s)		6
Section		Condensed Matter: Electronic Structure, Electrical, Magnetic and Optical Properties
DOI		https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/88/27001
Published online		22 October 2009

EPL, 88 (2009) 27001

Quantum electric dipole glass and frustrated magnetism near a critical point in Li₂ZrCuO₄

E. Vavilova¹^,2, A. S. Moskvin³^,4, Y. C. Arango¹, A. Sotnikov¹^,5, S.-L. Drechsler³, R. Klingeler¹, O. Volkova⁶, A. Vasiliev⁶, V. Kataev¹ and B. Büchner¹

¹ Institute for Solid State Research, IFW Dresden - 01171 Dresden, Germany, EU
² Zavoisky Physical-Technical Institute of RAS - 420029 Kazan, Russia
³ Institute for Theoretical Solid State Physics, IFW Dresden - 01171 Dresden, Germany, EU
⁴ Ural State University - 620083 Ekaterinburg, Russia
⁵ A. F. Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute of the RAS - 194021 St.-Petersburg, Russia
⁶ Moscow State University - 119992 Moscow, Russia

Corresponding author: v.kataev@ifw-dresden.de

Received: 16 September 2009
Accepted: 8 October 2009

Abstract

We report a new peculiar effect of the interaction between a sublattice of frustrated quantum spin-1/2 chains and a sublattice of pseudospin-1/2 centers (quantum electric dipoles) uniquely co-existing in the complex oxide γ-Li₂ZrCuO₄ (≡ Li₂CuZrO₄). ⁷Li nuclear magnetic resonance, Cu²⁺ electron spin resonance and a complex dielectric constant data reveal that the sublattice of Li⁺-derived electric dipoles orders glass like at $T_{{\mathrm g}}$ $\simeq$ 70 K yielding a spin site nonequivalency in the CuO₂ chains. We suggest that such a remarkable interplay between electrical and spin degrees of freedom might strongly influence the properties of the spiral spin state in Li₂ZrCuO₄ that is close to a quantum ferromagnetic critical point. In particular that strong quantum fluctuations and/or the glassy behavior of electric dipoles might renormalize the exchange integrals affecting this way the pitch angle of the spiral as well as be responsible for the missing multiferroicity present in other helicoidal magnets.

PACS: 75.10.Pq – Spin chain models / 76.60.-k – Nuclear magnetic resonance and relaxation / 77.22.-d – Dielectric properties of solids and liquids

© EPLA, 2009

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