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Slow spin relaxation in a highly polarized cooperative paramagnet

B. G. Ueland, G. C. Lau, R. J. Cava, J. R. OBrien, P. Schiffer

cond-mat.stat-mecharXiv:cond-mat/0511716

Abstract

We report measurements of the ac susceptibility of the cooperative paramagnet Tb2Ti2O7 in a strong magnetic field. Our data show the expected saturation maximum in chi(T) and also an unexpected low frequency dependence (< 1 Hz) of this peak, suggesting very slow spin relaxations are occurring. Measurements on samples diluted with nonmagnetic Y3+ or Lu3+ and complementary measurements on pure and diluted Dy2Ti2O7 strongly suggest that the relaxation is associated with dipolar spin correlations, representing unusual cooperative behavior in a paramagnetic system.

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