Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 127205 (2009) [4 pages]Spin Configuration in the 1/3 Magnetization Plateau of Azurite Determined by NMRReceived 19 December 2008; revised 6 February 2009; published 26 March 2009 High magnetic field 63,65Cu NMR spectra were used to determine the local spin polarization in the 1/3 magnetization plateau of azurite, Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2, which is a model system for the distorted diamond antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 chain. The spin part of the hyperfine field of the Cu2 (dimer) sites is found to be field independent, negative and strongly anisotropic, corresponding to ≈10% of fully polarized spin in a d orbital. This is close to the expected configuration of the quantum plateau, where a singlet state is stabilized on the dimer. However, the observed nonzero spin polarization points to some triplet admixture, induced by strong asymmetry of the diamond bonds J1 and J3. © 2009 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.127205
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.127205
PACS:
75.10.Pq, 67.80.dk, 75.25.+z, 76.60.−k
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