Incommensurate interactions and non-conventional spin-Peierls transition in TiOBr

Abstract

Temperature-dependent x-ray diffraction of the low-dimensional spin 1/2 quantum magnet TiOBr shows that the phase transition at T_{c2} = 47.1 (4) K corresponds to the development of an incommensurate superstructure. Below T_{c1} = 26.8 \pm 0.3 K the incommensurate modulation locks in into a two-fold superstructure similar to the low-temperature spin-Peierls state of TiOCl. Frustration between intra- and interchain interations within the spin-Peierls scenario, and competition between two-dimensional magnetic order and one-dimensional spin-Peierls order are discussed as possible sources of the incommensurability.