Evidence for incommensurate spin fluctuations in Sr_2RuO_4

Abstract

We report first inelastic neutron scattering measurements in the normal state of Sr_2RuO_4 that reveal the existence of incommensurate magnetic spin fluctuations located at ${\mathbf{q}}_0=(\pm 0.6\pi /a,\pm 0.6\pi /a,0)$. This finding confirms recent band structure calculations that have predicted incommensurate magnetic responses related to dynamical nesting properties of its Fermi surface.