Helicoidal magnetic order in a clean copper oxide spin chain compound
Abstract
We report susceptibility, specific heat, and neutron diffraction measurements on NaCu2O2, a spin-1/2 chain compound isostructural to LiCu2O2, which has been extensively investigated. Below 13 K, we find a long-range ordered, incommensurate magnetic helix state with a propagation vector similar to that of LiCu2O2. In contrast to the Li analogue, substitutional disorder is negligible in NaCu2O2. We can thus rule out that the helix is induced by impurities, as was claimed on the basis of prior work on LiCu2O2. A spin Hamiltonian with frustrated longer-range exchange interactions provides a good description of both the ordered state and the paramagnetic susceptibility.
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