Quantum critical transition amplifies magnetoelastic coupling in Mn[N(CN)2]2

T V Brinzari; P Chen; Q-C Sun; J Liu; L-C Tung; Y Wang; J A Schlueter; J Singleton; J L Manson; M-H Whangbo; A P Litvinchuk; J L Musfeldt

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.237202

Quantum critical transition amplifies magnetoelastic coupling in Mn[N(CN)2]2

Phys Rev Lett. 2013 Jun 7;110(23):237202. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.237202. Epub 2013 Jun 5.

Authors

T V Brinzari¹, P Chen¹, Q-C Sun¹, J Liu², L-C Tung³, Y Wang³, J A Schlueter⁴, J Singleton⁵, J L Manson⁶, M-H Whangbo², A P Litvinchuk⁷, J L Musfeldt¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA.
² Department of Chemistry, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-8204, USA.
³ National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Tallahassee, Florida 32310, USA.
⁴ Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA.
⁵ National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
⁶ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, Washington 99004, USA.
⁷ Texas Center for Superconductivity and Department of Physics, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, USA.

PMID: 25167527
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.237202

Abstract

We report the discovery of a magnetic quantum critical transition in Mn[N(CN)(2)](2) that drives the system from a canted antiferromagnetic state to the fully polarized state with amplified magnetoelastic coupling as an intrinsic part of the process. The local lattice distortions, revealed through systematic phonon frequency shifts, suggest a combined MnN(6) octahedra distortion+counterrotation mechanism that reduces antiferromagnetic interactions and acts to accommodate the field-induced state. These findings deepen our understanding of magnetoelastic coupling near a magnetic quantum critical point and away from the static limit.