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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 102 » Issue 17
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 177006 (2009) [4 pages]

Magnetic-Field-Induced Soft-Mode Quantum Phase Transition in the High-Temperature Superconductor La1.855Sr0.145CuO4: An Inelastic Neutron-Scattering Study

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J. Chang1,*, N. B. Christensen1,2,3, Ch. Niedermayer1, K. Lefmann2,3, H. M. Rønnow1,4, D. F. McMorrow5, A. Schneidewind6,7, P. Link7, A. Hiess8, M. Boehm8, R. Mottl1, S. Pailhés1, N. Momono9, M. Oda9, M. Ido9, and J. Mesot1,4
1Laboratory for Neutron Scattering, ETH Zurich and PSI Villigen, CH-5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
2Materials Research Division, Risø DTU, Technical University of Denmark, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark
3Nano-Science Center, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
4Laboratory for Quantum Magnetism, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
5London Centre for Nanotechnology and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, London, United Kingdom
6Institut für Festkörperphysik, Technische Universität Dresden, D-01062 Dresden, Germany
7Forschungsneutronenquelle Heinz-Maier-Leibnitz (FRM-II), TU München, D-85747 Garching, Germany
8Institut Laue-Langevin, B.P. 156, F-38042 Grenoble, France
9Department of Physics, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan

Received 21 January 2009; published 30 April 2009

Inelastic neutron-scattering experiments on the high-temperature superconductor La1.855Sr0.145CuO4 reveal a magnetic excitation gap Δ that decreases continuously upon application of a magnetic field perpendicular to the CuO2 planes. The gap vanishes at the critical field required to induce long-range incommensurate antiferromagnetic order, providing compelling evidence for a field-induced soft-mode driven quantum phase transition.

© 2009 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.177006
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.177006
PACS:
74.72.Dn, 74.25.Nf, 78.70.Nx

*jchang@physique.usherbrooke.ca

 
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