Friday, August 3, 2012

1208.0018 (M. P. M. Dean et al.)

Spin excitations in a single La$_2$CuO$_4$ layer    [PDF]

M. P. M. Dean, R. S. Springell, C. Monney, K. J. Zhou, I. Bozovic, J. Pereiro, B. Dalla Piazza, H. M. Ronnow, E. Morenzoni, J. van den Brink, T. Schmitt, J. P. Hill
The dynamics of S=1/2 quantum spins on a 2D square lattice lie at the heart of the mystery of the cuprates \cite{Hayden2004,Vignolle2007,Li2010,LeTacon2011,Coldea2001,Headings2010,Braicovich2010}. In bulk cuprates such as \LCO{}, the presence of a weak interlayer coupling stabilizes 3D N\'{e}el order up to high temperatures. In a truly 2D system however, thermal spin fluctuations melt long range order at any finite temperature \cite{Mermin1966}. Further, quantum spin fluctuations transfer magnetic spectral weight out of a well-defined magnon excitation into a magnetic continuum, the nature of which remains controversial \cite{Sandvik2001,Ho2001,Christensen2007,Headings2010}. Here, we measure the spin response of \emph{isolated one-unit-cell thick layers} of \LCO{}. We show that coherent magnons persist even in a single layer of \LCO{} despite the loss of magnetic order, with no evidence for resonating valence bond (RVB)-like spin correlations \cite{Anderson1987,Hsu1990,Christensen2007}. Thus these excitations are well described by linear spin wave theory (LSWT). We also observe a high-energy magnetic continuum in the isotropic magnetic response. This high-energy continuum is not well described by 2 magnon LSWT, or indeed any existing theories.
View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1208.0018

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