Magnetoelastic Coupling in the Spin-Dimer System TlCuCl$_3$

Abstract

We present high-resolution measurements of the thermal expansion and the magnetostriction of TlCuCl$_{3}$ which shows field-induced antiferromagnetic order. We find pronounced anomalies in the field and temperature dependence of different directions of the lattice signaling a large magnetoelastic coupling. The phase boundary is extremely sensitive to pressure, e.g. the transition field would change by about +/- 185$%/GPa under uniaxial pressure applied along certain directions. This drastic effect can unambiguously be traced back to changes of the intradimer coupling under uniaxial pressure. The interdimer couplings remain essentially unchanged under pressure, but strongly change when Tl is replaced by K.