Effect of Chiral Domain Walls on the Specific Heat of Gd(hfac<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><msub><mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow><mrow><mn>3</mn></mrow></msub></mrow></math>NITR ( <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi mathvariant="italic">R</mi><mspace></mspace><mo>=</mo><mspace></mspace><mi>E</mi><mi>t</mi><mi>h</mi><mi>y</mi><mi>l</mi></math>, Isopropyl, Methyl, Phenyl) Molecular Magnetic Chains

F. Bartolomé; J. Bartolomé; C. Benelli; A. Caneschi; D. Gatteschi; C. Paulsen; M. G. Pini; A. Rettori; R. Sessoli; Y. Volokitin

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.77.382

Effect of Chiral Domain Walls on the Specific Heat of Gd(hfac $)_{3}$ NITR ( $R = E t h y l$ , Isopropyl, Methyl, Phenyl) Molecular Magnetic Chains

F. Bartolomé, J. Bartolomé, C. Benelli, A. Caneschi, D. Gatteschi, C. Paulsen, M. G. Pini, A. Rettori, R. Sessoli, and Y. Volokitin

Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 382 – Published 8 July 1996

Abstract

We measured the thermodynamic properties for a class of quasi-one-dimensional (1D) molecular magnets with alternating spins and competing nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor exchange interactions. For the two compounds with higher frustration ( $R = ethyl$ and $R = isopropyl$ ), which present a genuine 1D magnetic behavior down to the lowest measured temperatures (0.08 and 0.5 K), a peak at $T ≃ 2 K$ was observed in the specific heat, and attributed to the excitation of chiral domain walls.

Received 7 December 1995

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.77.382

Authors & Affiliations

F. Bartolomé¹, J. Bartolomé¹, C. Benelli², A. Caneschi², D. Gatteschi², C. Paulsen³, M. G. Pini⁴, A. Rettori⁵, R. Sessoli², and Y. Volokitin⁶

¹Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Aragon, CSIC Universidad de Zaragoza, E-50009 Zaragoza, Spain
²Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Firenze, Via Maragliano 75/77, I-50144 Firenze, Italy
³Centre de Recherche sur les Très Basses Températures, Laboratoire associé à l'Université Joseph Fourier, CNRS, BP 166, 38042 Grenoble Cédex 9, France
⁴Istituto di Elettronica Quantistica, CNR, Via Panciatichi 56/30, I-50127 Firenze, Italy
⁵Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Firenze and Istituto Nazionale di Fisica della Materia, Sezione di Firenze, Largo Enrico Fermi 2, I-50125 Firenze, Italy
⁶Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratorium, Postbus 9506, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands