Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:cond-mat/9605069 · Physical review. B, Condensed matter

Rapid suppression of the spin gap in Zn-doped CuGeO3 and SrCu2 O3

George Balster Martins, Elbio R. Dagotto, José A. Riera

Published Dec 1, 1996• 47 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The influence of nonmagnetic impurities on the spectrum and dynamical spin structure factor of a model for ${\mathrm{CuGeO}}_{3}$ is studied. A simple extension to Zn-doped Sr ${\mathrm{Cu}}_{2}$ ${\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ is also discussed. Using exact diagonalization techniques and intuitive arguments we show that Zn doping introduces states in the spin-Peierls gap of ${\mathrm{CuGeO}}_{3}$. This effect can be understood easily in the large dimerization limit where doping by Zn creates ``loose'' S=1/2 spins, which interact with each other through very weak effective antiferromagnetic couplings. When the dimerization is small, a similar effect is observed but now with the free S=1/2 spins being the resulting S=1/2 ground state of severed chains with an odd number of sites. Experimental consequences of these results are discussed. It is interesting to observe that the spin correlations along the chains are enhanced by Zn doping according to the numerical data presented here. As recent numerical calculations have shown, similar arguments apply to ladders with nonmagnetic impurities simply replacing the tendency to dimerization in ${\mathrm{CuGeO}}_{3}$ by the tendency to form spin singlets along the rungs in ${\mathrm{SrCu}}_{2}$${\mathrm{O}}_{3}$. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.54.16032

Related papers

Enhancement of antiferromagnetic correlations induced by nonmagnetic impurities: Origin and predictions for NMR experiments

Markus Laukamp, George Balster Martins, C. J. Gazza +5 more

Spin models that have been proposed to describe dimerized chains, ladders, two-dimensional antiferromagnets, and other compounds are studied here when some spins are replaced by spinless vacancies, such as it occurs by Zn doping. A small percentage of vacancies rapidly destroys the spin gap, and their presence induces enhanced antiferromagnetic correlations near those vacancies. The study is performed with computational techniques which includes Lanczos, world-line Monte Carlo, and the density-matrix renormalization-group methods. Since the phenomenon of enhanced antiferromagnetism is found to occur in several models and cluster geometries, a common simple explanation for its presence may exist. It is argued that the resonating-valence-bond character of the spin correlations at short distances of a large variety of models is responsible for the presence of robust staggered spin correlations near vacancies and lattice edges. The phenomenon takes place regardless of the long distance properties of the ground state, and it is caused by a ``pruning'' of the available spin singlets in the vicinity of the vacancies. The effect produces a broadening of the low-temperature NMR signal for the compounds analyzed here. This broadening should be experimentally observable in the structurally dimerized chain systems $\mathrm{Cu}({\mathrm{NO}}_{3}{)}_{2}\ensuremath{\cdot}2.5{\mathrm{H}}_{2}\mathrm{O}$, ${\mathrm{CuWO}}_{4}$, $(\mathrm{VO}{)}_{2}{\mathrm{P}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{7}$, and ${\mathrm{Sr}}_{14}{\mathrm{Cu}}_{24}{\mathrm{O}}_{41},$ in ladder materials such as ${\mathrm{SrCu}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$, in the spin-Peierls systems ${\mathrm{CuGeO}}_{3}$ and ${\mathrm{NaV}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{5}$, and in several others since it is a universal effect common to a wide variety of models and compounds. In addition, it is argued that the N\'eel order observed in ${\mathrm{SrCu}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ upon Zn doping is induced by the local antiferromagnetic order discussed in this paper, enhanced by a favorable ratio between the actual Heisenberg couplings along chains and rungs, as reported in recent experimental literature. Based on this reasoning it is predicted here that other ladder materials such as Zn-doped ${\mathrm{Cu}}_{2}({\mathrm{C}}_{5}{\mathrm{H}}_{12}{\mathrm{N}}_{2}{)}_{2}{\mathrm{Cl}}_{4}$ will not present N\'eel order at small Zn concentrations.

arXiv:cond-mat/9707261•Physical review. B, Condensed matter•May 1, 1998•89 citations

Impurity Effect on Spin Ladder System

Yukitoshi Motome, Nobuyuki Katoh, Nobuo Furukawa +1 more

Effects of nonmagnetic impurity doping in a spin ladder system with a spin gap are investigated by the exact diagonalization as well as by the variational Monte Carlo calculations. Substantial changes in macroscopic properties such as enhancements in spin correlations and magnetic susceptibilities are observed in the low impurity concentration region, which are caused by the increase of low-energy states. These results suggest that small but finite amount of nonmagnetic impurity doping relevantly causes the reduction or the vanishment of the spin gap. This qualitatively explains the experimental result of Zn-doped SrCu$_{2}$O$_{3}$ where small doping induces gapless nature. We propose a possible scenario for this drastic change as a quantum phase transition in a spin gapped ladder system due to spinon doping effects.

arXiv:cond-mat/9605048•Journal of the Physical Society of Japan•Jul 15, 1996•47 citations

Effect of spin-1 impurities in dimerized Heisenberg chains

P. Hansen, José A. Riera, A. Delia +1 more

The effects of spin-1 impurities introduced in dimerized antiferromagnetic spin chains are studied using Lanczos diagonalization and quantum Monte Carlo simulations. First, the magnitude of the interaction between a Ni ion replacing a Cu ion is derived for the case study system Cu-O-Cu. Then, it is shown that the introduction of $S=1$ impurities leads to the suppression of the original spin gap of the dimerized system and to the enhancement of the antiferromagnetic correlations close to the impurity. These features are interpreted in terms of a valence bond picture of the ground state of both the pure and the doped system. The similitudes and differences between the underlying mechanisms that produce these effects in the cases of nonmagnetic and $S=1$ impurities are analyzed. It is stressed that a singlet formed between the spin-1 impurity site and the two spin-1/2 neighbors spins behaves as an effective nonmagnetic vacancy which may be partially responsible for the enhancement of the antiferromagnetic correlations on the whole system. Implications of these results for experiment are also discussed.

arXiv:cond-mat/9711229•Physical review. B, Condensed matter•Sep 1, 1998•6 citations

Effects of Nonmagnetic Impurity Doping on Spin Ladder System

Youichirou Iino, Masatoshi Imada

Effects of nonmagnetic impurity doping on an AF spin-1/2 Heisenberg ladder system are studied by the QMC method. A single nonmagnetic impurity induces a localized spin-1/2 moment accompanied by "static" and enhanced AF correlations around it. Small and finite concentration of impurities induces a remarkable change of magnetic and thermodynamic properties with gapless excitations. It also shows rather sharp but continuous crossover around the concentration of about 4%. Above the crossover concentration, all the spins are strongly coupled participating in the enhanced and rather uniform power-law decay of the antiferromagnetic correlation. Below the crossover, each impurity forms an antiferromagnetic cluster only weakly coupled each other. For random distribution of impurities, large Curie-like susceptibility accompanied with small residual entropy is obtained at low temperatures in agreement with recent experimental observation in Zn-doped $SrCu_{2}O_{3}$. Temperature dependence of AF susceptibility shows power-law-like but weaker divergence than the single chain AFH in the temperature range studied.

arXiv:cond-mat/9609038•Journal of the Physical Society of Japan•Dec 15, 1996•39 citations

Effect of impurities on the long-distance and Zhang–Rice dimers in the quantum magnet Sr 14 Cu 24 O 41

Rabindranath Bag, Koushik Karmakar, Sudesh Kumar Dhar +3 more

Abstract We study the effect of impurities on the two types of spin-dimers in the hybrid chain-ladder spin 1/2 quantum magnet Sr Cu O . Four different impurities were used, namely, the non-magnetic Zn (0.0025 and 0.01 per Cu) and Al (0.0025 and 0.01 per Cu), and magnetic Ni (0.0025 and 0.01 per Cu) and Co (0.01, 0.03, 0.05 and 0.1 per Cu). These impurities were doped in high-quality single-crystals synthesized by the floating-zone method. The magnetic susceptibility of pristine Sr Cu O is analyzed rigorously to confirm that at low temperatures ( K), the ‘free’ spins in the chains undergo a long-distance dimerization as proposed in a recent study (Sahling et al 2015 Nat. Phys . 11 255). The effect of impurity on these dimers is analyzed by measuring the specific heat down to K. We found that even at the lower impurity concentration, the long-distance dimers are significantly severed but the quantum entangled spin dimerized state of the chains persists. On the other hand, the other type of spin dimers that form at relatively higher temperatures via an intervening Zhang–Rice singlet are found to be practically unaffected at the lower impurity concentration; but at 1% doping these dimers are considerably severed. The effect of Co impurity turned out to be most unusual displaying a strongly anisotropic response, and with a dimerization gap that suppresses faster along the chain/ladder direction than perpendicular to it as a function of increasing Co concentration.

Journal of Physics Condensed Matter•Nov 12, 2018•7 citations

Disappearance of the Spin Gap in a Zn-Doped 2-Leg Ladder Compound Sr(Cu1-xZnx)2O3

Masaki Azuma, Mikio Takano, Roger S. Eccleston

An inelastic neutron scattering study was performed on a Zn-substituted spin-1/2 Heisenberg 2-leg ladder compound Sr(Cu1-xZnx)2O3 (x < 0.04) to investigate nonmagnetic impurity effects on the quantum spin system with a large spin gap of about 400 K. The magnitude of the spin gap was found to be independent of Zn concentration, 33 meV, while the integrated magnetic scattering which corresponds to the singlet-triplet excitation decreased monotonically with increasing x. On account of the total-sum rule, this result supports the existence of a finite in-gap density of states at E = 0 which was suggested from the T-linear magnetic specific heat.

arXiv:cond-mat/9706170•Journal of the Physical Society of Japan•Mar 15, 1998•40 citations
The influence of nonmagnetic impurities on the spectrum and dynamical spin structure factor of a model for CuGeO3{\mathrm{CuGeO}}_{3}CuGeO3​ is studied. A simple extension to Zn-doped Sr Cu2{\mathrm{Cu}}_{2}Cu2​ O3{\mathrm{O}}_{3}O3​ is also discussed. Using exact diagonalization techniques and intuitive arguments we show that Zn doping introduces states in the spin-Peierls gap of CuGeO3{\mathrm{CuGeO}}_{3}CuGeO3​. This effect can be understood easily in the large dimerization limit where doping by Zn creates ``loose'' S=1/2 spins, which interact with each other through very weak effective antiferromagnetic couplings. When the dimerization is small, a similar effect is observed but now with the free S=1/2 spins being the resulting S=1/2 ground state of severed chains with an odd number of sites. Experimental consequences of these results are discussed. It is interesting to observe that the spin correlations along the chains are enhanced by Zn doping according to the numerical data presented here. As recent numerical calculations have shown, similar arguments apply to ladders with nonmagnetic impurities simply replacing the tendency to dimerization in CuGeO3{\mathrm{CuGeO}}_{3}CuGeO3​ by the tendency to form spin singlets along the rungs in {\mathrm{SrCu}}_{2}$${\mathrm{O}}_{3}. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
Spin models that have been proposed to describe dimerized chains, ladders, two-dimensional antiferromagnets, and other compounds are studied here when some spins are replaced by spinless vacancies, such as it occurs by Zn doping. A small percentage of vacancies rapidly destroys the spin gap, and their presence induces enhanced antiferromagnetic correlations near those vacancies. The study is performed with computational techniques which includes Lanczos, world-line Monte Carlo, and the density-matrix renormalization-group methods. Since the phenomenon of enhanced antiferromagnetism is found to occur in several models and cluster geometries, a common simple explanation for its presence may exist. It is argued that the resonating-valence-bond character of the spin correlations at short distances of a large variety of models is responsible for the presence of robust staggered spin correlations near vacancies and lattice edges. The phenomenon takes place regardless of the long distance properties of the ground state, and it is caused by a ``pruning'' of the available spin singlets in the vicinity of the vacancies. The effect produces a broadening of the low-temperature NMR signal for the compounds analyzed here. This broadening should be experimentally observable in the structurally dimerized chain systems $\mathrm{Cu}({\mathrm{NO}}_{3}{)}_{2}\ensuremath{\cdot}2.5{\mathrm{H}}_{2}\mathrm{O}$, CuWO4{\mathrm{CuWO}}_{4}CuWO4​, (VO)2P2O7(\mathrm{VO}{)}_{2}{\mathrm{P}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{7}(VO)2​P2​O7​, and Sr14Cu24O41,{\mathrm{Sr}}_{14}{\mathrm{Cu}}_{24}{\mathrm{O}}_{41},Sr14​Cu24​O41​, in ladder materials such as SrCu2O3{\mathrm{SrCu}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}SrCu2​O3​, in the spin-Peierls systems CuGeO3{\mathrm{CuGeO}}_{3}CuGeO3​ and NaV2O5{\mathrm{NaV}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{5}NaV2​O5​, and in several others since it is a universal effect common to a wide variety of models and compounds. In addition, it is argued that the N\'eel order observed in SrCu2O3{\mathrm{SrCu}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}SrCu2​O3​ upon Zn doping is induced by the local antiferromagnetic order discussed in this paper, enhanced by a favorable ratio between the actual Heisenberg couplings along chains and rungs, as reported in recent experimental literature. Based on this reasoning it is predicted here that other ladder materials such as Zn-doped Cu2(C5H12N2)2Cl4{\mathrm{Cu}}_{2}({\mathrm{C}}_{5}{\mathrm{H}}_{12}{\mathrm{N}}_{2}{)}_{2}{\mathrm{Cl}}_{4}Cu2​(C5​H12​N2​)2​Cl4​ will not present N\'eel order at small Zn concentrations.
Effects of nonmagnetic impurity doping in a spin ladder system with a spin gap are investigated by the exact diagonalization as well as by the variational Monte Carlo calculations. Substantial changes in macroscopic properties such as enhancements in spin correlations and magnetic susceptibilities are observed in the low impurity concentration region, which are caused by the increase of low-energy states. These results suggest that small but finite amount of nonmagnetic impurity doping relevantly causes the reduction or the vanishment of the spin gap. This qualitatively explains the experimental result of Zn-doped SrCu2_{2}2​O3_{3}3​ where small doping induces gapless nature. We propose a possible scenario for this drastic change as a quantum phase transition in a spin gapped ladder system due to spinon doping effects.
The effects of spin-1 impurities introduced in dimerized antiferromagnetic spin chains are studied using Lanczos diagonalization and quantum Monte Carlo simulations. First, the magnitude of the interaction between a Ni ion replacing a Cu ion is derived for the case study system Cu-O-Cu. Then, it is shown that the introduction of S=1S=1S=1 impurities leads to the suppression of the original spin gap of the dimerized system and to the enhancement of the antiferromagnetic correlations close to the impurity. These features are interpreted in terms of a valence bond picture of the ground state of both the pure and the doped system. The similitudes and differences between the underlying mechanisms that produce these effects in the cases of nonmagnetic and S=1S=1S=1 impurities are analyzed. It is stressed that a singlet formed between the spin-1 impurity site and the two spin-1/2 neighbors spins behaves as an effective nonmagnetic vacancy which may be partially responsible for the enhancement of the antiferromagnetic correlations on the whole system. Implications of these results for experiment are also discussed.
Effects of nonmagnetic impurity doping on an AF spin-1/2 Heisenberg ladder system are studied by the QMC method. A single nonmagnetic impurity induces a localized spin-1/2 moment accompanied by "static" and enhanced AF correlations around it. Small and finite concentration of impurities induces a remarkable change of magnetic and thermodynamic properties with gapless excitations. It also shows rather sharp but continuous crossover around the concentration of about 4%. Above the crossover concentration, all the spins are strongly coupled participating in the enhanced and rather uniform power-law decay of the antiferromagnetic correlation. Below the crossover, each impurity forms an antiferromagnetic cluster only weakly coupled each other. For random distribution of impurities, large Curie-like susceptibility accompanied with small residual entropy is obtained at low temperatures in agreement with recent experimental observation in Zn-doped SrCu2O3SrCu_{2}O_{3}SrCu2​O3​. Temperature dependence of AF susceptibility shows power-law-like but weaker divergence than the single chain AFH in the temperature range studied.
Abstract We study the effect of impurities on the two types of spin-dimers in the hybrid chain-ladder spin 1/2 quantum magnet Sr Cu O . Four different impurities were used, namely, the non-magnetic Zn (0.0025 and 0.01 per Cu) and Al (0.0025 and 0.01 per Cu), and magnetic Ni (0.0025 and 0.01 per Cu) and Co (0.01, 0.03, 0.05 and 0.1 per Cu). These impurities were doped in high-quality single-crystals synthesized by the floating-zone method. The magnetic susceptibility of pristine Sr Cu O is analyzed rigorously to confirm that at low temperatures ( K), the ‘free’ spins in the chains undergo a long-distance dimerization as proposed in a recent study (Sahling et al 2015 Nat. Phys . 11 255). The effect of impurity on these dimers is analyzed by measuring the specific heat down to K. We found that even at the lower impurity concentration, the long-distance dimers are significantly severed but the quantum entangled spin dimerized state of the chains persists. On the other hand, the other type of spin dimers that form at relatively higher temperatures via an intervening Zhang–Rice singlet are found to be practically unaffected at the lower impurity concentration; but at 1% doping these dimers are considerably severed. The effect of Co impurity turned out to be most unusual displaying a strongly anisotropic response, and with a dimerization gap that suppresses faster along the chain/ladder direction than perpendicular to it as a function of increasing Co concentration.
An inelastic neutron scattering study was performed on a Zn-substituted spin-1/2 Heisenberg 2-leg ladder compound Sr(Cu1-xZnx)2O3 (x < 0.04) to investigate nonmagnetic impurity effects on the quantum spin system with a large spin gap of about 400 K. The magnitude of the spin gap was found to be independent of Zn concentration, 33 meV, while the integrated magnetic scattering which corresponds to the singlet-triplet excitation decreased monotonically with increasing x. On account of the total-sum rule, this result supports the existence of a finite in-gap density of states at E = 0 which was suggested from the T-linear magnetic specific heat.