Physical review. B./Physical review. B
Spin excitations and quantum criticality in the quasi-one-dimensional Ising-like ferromagnet CoCl2·2D2O in a transverse field
Jacob Larsen, T. K. Schäffer, Ursula Hansen, S. L. Holm, S. R. Ahl, Rasmus Toft-Petersen, J. Taylor, Georg Ehlers, Jens Jensen, Henrik Moodysson Rønnow, Kim Lefmann, Niels Bech Christensen
Abstract
We present experimental evidence for a quantum phase transition in the easy-axis $S=3/2$ anisotropic quasi-one-dimensional ferromagnet ${\mathrm{CoCl}}_{2}\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}2{\mathrm{D}}_{2}\mathrm{O}$ in a transverse field. Elastic neutron scattering shows that the magnetic order parameter vanishes at a transverse critical field ${\ensuremath{\mu}}_{0}{H}_{c}=16.05$(4) T, while inelastic neutron scattering shows that the gap in the magnetic excitation spectrum vanishes at the same field value, and reopens for $H>{H}_{c}$. The field dependence of the order parameter and the gap are well described by critical exponents $\ensuremath{\beta}=0.45\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.09$ and $z\ensuremath{\nu}$ close to $1/2$, implying that the quantum phase transition in ${\mathrm{CoCl}}_{2}\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}2{\mathrm{D}}_{2}\mathrm{O}$ differs significantly from the textbook version of a $S=1/2$ Ising chain in a transverse field. We attribute the difference to weak but finite three-dimensionality of the magnetic interactions.