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Magnetic field induced ordering in the spin- $\frac{1}{2}$ chiral chain compound $[{Cu (pym) (H}_{2} O)_{4}] {SiF}_{6} \cdot H_{2} O$

Rebecca Scatena ¹, Alberto Hernández-Melián ², Benjamin M. Huddart ^2,3, Sam Curley ⁴, Robert C. Williams ⁴, Pascal Manuel ⁵, Stephen J. Blundell ³, Zurab Guguchia⁶, Zachary E. Manson⁷ et al.

Jamie L. Manson^7,*, G. Timothy Noe, II ⁸, John Singleton ⁸, Tom Lancaster ², Paul A. Goddard ^4,†, and Roger D. Johnson ^9,10

¹Diamond Light Source, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot OX11 0DE, United Kingdom
²Department of Physics, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom
³Clarendon Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom
⁴Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
⁵ISIS Pulsed Neutron Source, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0QX, United Kingdom
⁶PSI Center for Neutron and Muon Sciences, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
⁷Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, Washington 99004, USA
⁸National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
⁹Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
¹⁰London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London, Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AH, United Kingdom

^*Deceased.
^†Contact author: p.goddard@warwick.ac.uk

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Phys. Rev. B 112, 054414 – Published 5 August, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/w195-6pjw

Abstract

We present single-crystal neutron diffraction, powder muon spin rotation, and pulsed-field magnetometry measurements on the Heisenberg quantum chiral chain $[Cu (pym) {(H_{2} O)}_{4}] {SiF}_{6} \cdot H_{2} O$ (pym = pyrimidine), which displays a fourfold-periodic rotation of the local environment around the Cu(ii) $S = 1 / 2$ ions from site to site along the chain. Previous measurements on this material have shown the absence of magnetic order down to surprisingly low temperatures $\geq 20$ mK, as well as the presence of an energy gap for magnetic excitations that grows linearly with magnetic field. Here we find evidence at dilution refrigerator temperatures for a field-induced transition to long-range magnetic order above an applied magnetic field of 3 T. From the polarization of magnetic moments observed with magnetic fields applied in the $[- 1, 2, 0]$ direction, we can identify the static magnetic structure that best accounts for the data. The proposed model is supported microscopically by the presence of an alternating component of the $g$ tensor, which produces an internal twofold staggered field that dictates both the direction of the ordered moments and the effective coupling between adjacent chains. The observed magnetic structure is contrary to previous proposals for the departure of the magnitude and field dependence of the energy gap from the predictions of the sine-Gordon model.

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Phys. Rev. B 112, 054414– Published 5 August, 2025

Vol. 112, Iss. 5 — 1 August 2025

Received 13 May 2025
Revised 7 July 2025
Accepted 10 July 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/w195-6pjw

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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Magnetic field induced ordering in the spin- $\frac{1}{2}$ chiral chain compound $[{Cu (pym) (H}_{2} O)_{4}] {SiF}_{6} \cdot H_{2} O$

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Magnetic field induced ordering in the spin-12 chiral chain compound [Cu(pym)(H2O)4]SiF6·H2O

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Magnetic field induced ordering in the spin- $\frac{1}{2}$ chiral chain compound $[{Cu (pym) (H}_{2} O)_{4}] {SiF}_{6} \cdot H_{2} O$