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Science 11 October 2002:
Vol. 298. no. 5592, pp. 395 - 399
DOI: 10.1126/science.1075045
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Reports

Magnetic Superstructure in the Two-Dimensional Quantum Antiferromagnet SrCu2(BO3)2

K. Kodama,1 M. Takigawa,1* M. Horvatic,2 C. Berthier,23 H. Kageyama,1 Y. Ueda,1 S. Miyahara,14 F. Becca,4 F. Mila4

We report the observation of magnetic superstructure in a magnetization plateau state of SrCu2(BO3)2, a frustrated quasi-two-dimensional quantum spin system. The Cu and B nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra at 35 millikelvin indicate an apparently discontinuous phase transition from uniform magnetization to a modulated superstructure near 27 tesla, above which a magnetization plateau at 1/8 of the full saturation has been observed. Comparison of the Cu NMR spectrum and the theoretical analysis of a Heisenberg spin model demonstrates the crystallization of itinerant triplets in the plateau phase within a large rhomboid unit cell (16 spins per layer) showing oscillations of the spin polarization. Thus, we are now in possession of an interesting model system to study a localization transition of strongly interacting quantum particles.

1 Institute for Solid State Physics, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8581, Japan.
2 Grenoble High Magnetic Field Laboratory, CNRS and MPI-FKF, 38042 Grenoble, France.
3 Laboratoire de Spectrométrie Physique, Université Joseph Fourier Grenoble I, 38402 St.-Martin d'Hères, France.
4 Institut de Physique Théorique, Université de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: masashi{at}issp.u-tokyo.ac.jp

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Fractalization drives crystalline states in a frustrated spin system.
S. E. Sebastian, N. Harrison, P. Sengupta, C. D. Batista, S. Francoual, E. Palm, T. Murphy, N. Marcano, H. A. Dabkowska, and B. D. Gaulin (2008)
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