Spin thermal conductivity of the haldane chain compound Y(2)BaNiO(5).

We have measured the thermal conductivity of the spin S=1 chain compound Y(2)BaNiO(5). Analyzing the anisotropy of the thermal transport allows us to identify a definite spin-mediated thermal conductivity kappa(s) along the chain direction. The calculated spin-related energy diffusion constant D(E)(T) shows a broad peak around 120 K. Close to room temperature, D(E)(T) approaches the theoretically predicted high-temperature value, while scattering of spin excitations by magnetic impurities seems to be the major limiting factor of kappa(s) at low temperature.

Evidence for spin-charge separation in quasi-one-dimensional organic conductors.

Interacting conduction electrons are usually described within Fermi-liquid theory, which states that, in spite of strong interactions, the low-energy excitations are electron-like quasiparticles with charge and spin. In recent years there has been tremendous interest in conducting systems that are not Fermi liquids, motivated by the observation of highly anomalous metallic states in various materials, most notably the copper oxide superconductors. Non-Fermi-liquid behaviour is generic to one-dimensional interacting electron systems, which are predicted to be Luttinger liquids. One of their key properties is spin-charge separation: instead of quasiparticles, collective excitations of charge (with no spin) and spin (with no charge) are formed, which move independently and at different velocities. However, experimental confirmation of spin-charge separation remains a challenge. Here we report experiments probing the charge and heat current in quasi-one-dimensional conductors--the organic Bechgaard salts. It was found that the charge and spin excitations have distinctly different thermal conductivities, which gives strong evidence for spin-charge separation. The spin excitations have a much larger thermal conductivity than the charge excitations, which indicates that the coupling of the charge excitations to the lattice is important.

Experimental quest for orbital waves.

One challenge in condensed-matter physics is the experimental confirmation of a new kind of elementary excitation orbital waves, or orbitons, which are predicted to exist in an orbitally ordered state. Saitoh et al. have observed three peaks at 160, 144 and 126 meV in the Raman scattering of orbitally ordered lanthanum manganate (LaMnO(3)), and interpret these as evidence of orbitons. However, we find similar peaks in the optical conductivity, sigma(omega), of LaMnO(3) and point out that the direct observation of orbitons in sigma(omega) is prohibited by a selection rule. This suggests that the Raman peaks observed by Saitoh et al. arise from multiphonons, and that the existence of orbitons has yet to be experimentally confirmed.

Observation of two-magnon bound states in the two-leg ladders of (Ca,La)(14)Cu(24)O(41).

Phonon-assisted two-magnon absorption is studied in the spin- 1/2 two-leg ladders of (Ca,La)(14)Cu(24)O(41) for E parallel c (legs) and E parallel a (rungs). We verify the theoretically predicted existence of two-magnon singlet bound states, which give rise to peaks at approximately equal to 2140 and 2800 cm(-1). The two-magnon continuum is observed at approximately equal to 4000 cm(-1). Two different theoretical approaches (Jordan-Wigner fermions and perturbation theory) describe the data very well for J parallel approximately equal to 1020-1100 cm(-1), J parallel/J perpendicular approximately equal to 1-1.2. At high energies, the magnetic contribution to sigma(omega) is strikingly similar in the ladders and in the undoped high-T(c) cuprates, which emphasizes the importance of strong quantum fluctuations in the latter.

Strong damping of phononic heat current by magnetic excitations in SrCu2(BO3)(2).

Measurements of the thermal conductivity as a function of temperature and magnetic field in the 2D dimer spin system SrCu2(BO3)(2) are presented. In zero magnetic field the thermal conductivity along and perpendicular to the magnetic planes shows a pronounced double-peak structure as a function of temperature. The low-temperature maximum is drastically suppressed with increasing magnetic field. Our quantitative analysis reveals that the heat current is due to phonons and that the double-peak structure arises from pronounced resonant scattering of phonons by magnetic excitations.

Strong anisotropy of superexchange in the copper-oxygen chains of La(14)-xCaxCu24O41.

Electron spin resonance data of Cu2+ ions in La(14)-xCaxCu24O41 single crystals (x = 9,11,12) reveal a very large width of the resonance line in the paramagnetic state. This signals an unusually strong anisotropy of approximately 10% of the isotropic Heisenberg superexchange in the Cu-O chains of this compound. The strong anisotropy can be explained by the specific geometry of two symmetrical 90 degrees Cu-O-Cu bonds, which boosts the importance of orbital degrees of freedom. Our data show the apparent limitations of the applicability of an isotropic Heisenberg model to the low-dimensional cuprates.

Spectral flow and vortex dynamics in a temperature gradient

In the mixed state of superconductors the spectral flow of fermion zero modes in the vortex core couples the motion of vortices to that of the normal fluid. This gives rise to a heat current perpendicular to the direction of vortex motion and therefore to longitudinal thermomagnetic effects like the thermopower and the Peltier effect. Analysis of vortex motion in a temperature gradient on this basis yields excellent agreement with experimental results.