Impurity susceptibility and the fate of spin-flop transitions in lightly-doped La(2)CuO(4)

Abstract

We investigate the occurrence of a two-step spin-flop transition and spin reorientation when a longitudinal magnetic field is applied to lightly hole-doped La(2)CuO(4). We find that for large and strongly frustrating impurities, such as Sr in La(2-x)Sr(x)CuO(4), the huge enhancement of the longitudinal susceptibility suppresses the intermediate flop and the reorientation of spins is smooth and continuous. Contrary, for small and weakly frustrating impurities, such as O in La(2)CuO(4+y), a discontinuous spin reorientation (two-step spin-flop transition) takes place. Furthermore, we show that for La(2-x)Sr(x)CuO(4) the field dependence of the magnon gaps differs qualitatively from the La(2)CuO(4) case, a prediction to be verified with Raman spectroscopy or neutron scattering.

4 pages, 3 figures, For the connection between spin-flops and magnetoresistance, see cond-mat/0610818

References in corpus (4)

• Crystal structure and high-field magnetism of La2CuO4
• Field dependence of the magnetic spectrum in anisotropic and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya antiferromagnets: I. Theory
• Field dependence of the magnetic spectrum in anisotropic and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya antiferromagnets: II. Raman spectroscopy
• Spin-flop transitions and spin-wave gaps in La_2CuO_4

Cited by in corpus (1)

• AC Hopping Magnetotransport Across the Spin Flop Transition in Lightly Doped La_2CuO_4