On the possible existence of a phase with alternately ordered and disordered spin layers in ErBa2Cu3O7−δ

✍ Scribed by Vittorio Massidda

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 490 KB
• Volume: 200
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0921-4534
• DOI: 10.1016/0921-4534(92)90324-6

✦ Synopsis

Neutron diffraction data on the ordered configuration of the Er 3+ spins in ErBa2Cu307_~ at T< 0.5 K are compatible with two configurations which do not seem physically acceptable. One of these consists of layers with ordered spins alternating with layers of totally disordered spins. We show that this structure can actually exist, provided (a) quadrupolar interactions are important, especially the yyzz term, and (b) the ratio between the coupling constants corresponding to the bilinear interactions between nearest-and next-nearest-neighbouring xy layers is small ( ~ 41 ) due to some cancellation between the contributions to the former.