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The mixed-valent iridate Ba3InIr2O9 has been discussed as a promising candidate for quantum spin-liquid behavior. The compound exhibits Ir$^{4.5+}$ ions in face-sharing IrO6 octahedra forming Ir2O9 dimers with three t2g holes per dimer. Our results establish Ba3InIr2O9 as a cluster Mott insulator. Strong intra-dimer hopping delocalizes the three t2g holes in quasi-molecular dimer states while inter-dimer charge fluctuations are suppressed by Coulomb repulsion. The magnetism of Ba3InIr2O9 emerges from spin-orbit entangled quasi-molecular moments with yet unexplored interactions, opening up a new route to unconventional magnetic properties of 5d compounds. Using single-crystal x-ray diffraction we find the monoclinic space group C2/c already at room temperature. Dielectric spectroscopy shows insulating behavior. Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) reveals a rich excitation spectrum below 1.5 eV with a sinusoidal dynamical structure factor that unambiguously demonstrates the quasi-molecular character of the electronic states. Below 0.3 eV, we observe a series of excitations. According to exact diagonalization calculations, such low-energy excitations reflect the proximity of Ba3InIr2O9 to a hopping-induced phase transition based on the condensation of a quasi-molecular spin-orbit exciton. The dimer ground state roughly hosts two holes in a bonding j=1/2 orbital and the third hole in a bonding j=3/2 orbital., Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, V2: published version, minor changes

$^7$Li nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and terahertz (THz) spectroscopies are used to probe magnetic excitations and their field dependence in the hyperhoneycomb Kitaev magnet $\beta$-Li$_2$IrO$_3$. Spin-lattice relaxation rate ($1/T_1$) measured down to 100\,mK indicates gapless nature of the excitations at low fields (below $H_c\simeq 2.8$\,T), in contrast to the gapped magnon excitations found in the honeycomb Kitaev magnet $\alpha$-RuCl$_3$ at zero applied magnetic field. At higher temperatures in $\beta$-Li$_2$IrO$_3$, $1/T_1$ passes through a broad maximum without any clear anomaly at the N\'eel temperature $T_N\simeq 38$\,K, suggesting the abundance of low-energy excitations that are indeed observed as two peaks in the THz spectra, both correspond to zone-center magnon excitations. At higher fields (above $H_c$), an excitation gap opens, and a re-distribution of the THz spectral weight is observed without any indication of an excitation continuum, in contrast to $\alpha$-RuCl$_3$ where an excitation continuum was reported., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

Detailed magnetization, specific heat, and $^7$Li nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements on single crystals of the hyperhoneycomb Kitaev magnet $\beta$-Li$_2$IrO$_3$ are reported. At high temperatures, {\cred anisotropy of the magnetization is reflected by the different Curie-Weiss temperatures for different field directions}, in agreement with the combination of a ferromagnetic Kitaev interaction ($K$) and a negative off-diagonal anisotropy ($\Gamma$) as two leading terms in the spin Hamiltonian. At low temperatures, magnetic fields applied along $a$ or $c$ have only a weak effect on the system and reduce the N\'eel temperature from 38 K at 0 T to about 35.5 K at 14 T, with no field-induced transitions observed up to 58 T on a powder sample. In contrast, the field applied along $b$ causes a drastic reduction in the $T_N$ that vanishes around $H_c=2.8$ T giving way to a crossover toward a quantum paramagnetic state. $^7$Li NMR measurements in this field-induced state reveal a gradual line broadening and a continuous evolution of the line shift with temperature, suggesting the development of local magnetic fields. The spin-lattice relaxation rate shows a peak around the crossover temperature 40 K and follows power-law behavior below this temperature., Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures; published version

We report the structural and magnetic properties of a new system LiRhMnO$_{4}$ (LRMO) through x-ray diffraction, bulk magnetization, heat capacity and $^{7}$Li nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements. LRMO crystallizes in the cubic space group $\mathit{Fd}$$\bar{3}$$\mathit{m}$. From the DC susceptibility data, we obtained the Curie-Weiss temperature $\mathrm{\theta}_{\mathrm{CW}}$ = -26 K and Curie constant $\mathit{C}$ = 1.79 Kcm$^{3}$/mol suggesting antiferromagnetic correlations among the magnetic Mn$^{4+}$ ions with an effective spin $\mathit{S}$ = $\frac{3}{2}$. At $\mathit{H}$ = 50 Oe, the field cooled and zero-field cooled magnetizations bifurcate at a freezing temperature, $T_{f}$ = 4.45 K, which yields the frustration parameter $\mathit{f=\frac{\mid\theta_{CW}\mid}{T_{f}}}>$5. AC susceptibility, shows a cusp-like peak at around $T_{f}$, with the peak position shifting as a function of the driving frequency, confirming a spin-glass-like transition in LRMO. LRMO also shows typical spin-glass characteristics such as memory effect, aging effect and relaxation. In the heat capacity, there is no sharp anomaly down to 2 K indicative of long-range ordering. The field sweep $^{7}$Li NMR spectra show broadening with decreasing temperature without any spectral line shift. The $^{7}$Li NMR spin-lattice and spin-spin relaxation rates also show anomalies due to spin freezing near $T_{f}$., Comment: 9 pages, 16 figures, 2 tables

We have investigated the structural and magnetic properties of a new cubic spinel LiZn$_{2}$V$_{3}$O$_{8}$ (LZVO) through x-ray diffraction, dc and ac susceptibility, magnetic relaxation, aging, memory effect, heat capacity and $^{7}$Li nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements. A Curie-Weiss fit of the dc susceptibility $\chi_{\mathrm{dc}}$($\mathit{T}$) yields a Curie-Weiss temperature $\mathrm{\theta}_{\mathrm{CW}}$ = -185 K. This suggests strong antiferromagnetic (AFM) interactions among the magnetic vanadium ions. The dc and ac susceptibility data indicate the spin-glass behavior below a freezing temperature $T_{f}$ $\simeq$ 3 K. The frequency dependence of the $T_{f}$ is characterized by the Vogel-Fulcher law and critical dynamic scaling behavior or power law. From both fitting, we obtained the value of the characteristic angular frequency $\omega_{0}$ $\approx$ 3.56$\times$10$^{6}$ Hz, the dynamic exponent $\mathit{zv}$ $\approx$ 2.65, and the critical time constant $\tau_{0}$ $\approx$ 1.82$\times$10$^{-6}$ s, which falls in the conventional range for typical cluster spin-glass (CSG) systems. The value of relative shift in freezing temperature $\delta T_{f}$ $\simeq$ 0.039 supports a CSG ground states. We also found aging phenomena and memory effects in LZVO. The asymmetric response of the magnetic relaxation below $T_{f}$ supports the hierarchical model. Heat capacity data show no long-range or short-range ordering down to 2 K. Only about 25% magnetic entropy change $(\Delta S_{\mathrm{m}})$ signifies the presence of strong frustration in the system. The $^{7}$Li NMR spectra show a shift and broadening with decreasing temperature. The spin-lattice and spin-spin relaxation rates show anomalies due to spin freezing around 3 K as the bulk magnetization., Comment: 12 pages, 17 figures, 2 tables

We report electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy results on the double perovskite Ba$_2$YIrO$_6$. On general grounds, this material is expected to be nonmagnetic due to the strong coupling of the spin and orbital momenta of Ir$^{5+}$ (5$d^4$) ions. However, controversial experimental reports on either strong antiferromagnetism with static order at low temperatures or just a weakly paramagnetic behavior have triggered a discussion on the breakdown of the generally accepted scenario of the strongly spin-orbit coupled ground states in the 5$d^4$ iridates and the emergence of a novel exotic magnetic state. Our data evidence that the magnetism of the studied material is solely due to a few percent of Ir$^{4+}$ and Ir$^{6+}$ magnetic defects while the regular Ir$^{5+}$ sites remain nonmagnetic. Remarkably, the defect Ir$^{6+}$ species manifest magnetic correlations in the ESR spectra at $T\lesssim 20$ K suggesting a long-range character of superexchange in the double prevoskites as proposed by recent theories.

Temperature-pressure phase diagram of the Kitaev hyperhoneycomb iridate $\beta$-Li$_2$IrO$_3$ is explored using magnetization, thermal expansion, magnetostriction, and muon spin rotation ($\mu$SR) measurements, as well as single-crystal x-ray diffraction under pressure and ab initio calculations. The Neel temperature of $\beta$-Li$_2$IrO$_3$ increases with the slope of 0.9 K/GPa upon initial compression, but the reduction in the polarization field $H_c$ reflects a growing instability of the incommensurate order. At 1.4 GPa, the ordered state breaks down upon a first-order transition giving way to a new ground state marked by the coexistence of dynamically correlated and frozen spins. This partial freezing in the absence of any conspicuous structural defects may indicate classical nature of the resulting pressure-induced spin liquid, an observation paralleled to the increase in the nearest-neighbor off-diagonal exchange $\Gamma$ under pressure., Comment: 4 pages + Supplemental Material (published version)

The motivation for a cosmic muon veto (CMV) detector is to explore the possibility of locating the proposed large Iron Calorimeter (ICAL) detector at the India based Neutrino Observatory (INO) at a shallow depth. An initial effort in that direction, through the assembly and testing of a $\sim$ 1 m $\times$ 1 m $\times$ 0.3 m plastic scintillator based detector, is described. The plan for making a CMV detector for a smaller prototype mini-ICAL is also outlined.

The cubic double perovskite Ba$_2$YIrO$_6$ has been investigated by the local probe techniques nuclear magnetic resonance ($^{89}$Y NMR) and muon spin rotation (muSR). Both methods confirm the absence of magnetic long-range order in this compound but find evidence for diluted localized paramagnetic moments. NMR spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T1 measurements suggest a slowing down of localized spin moments at low temperatures. An increase of the muSR spin-lattice relaxation rate lambda confirms the presence of weak magnetism in Ba$_2$YIrO$_6$ . However, these findings cannot be explained by the recently suggested excitonic type of magnetism. Instead, they point towards tiny amounts of localized paramagnetic spin centers leading to this magnetic response on the background of a simple nonmagnetic ground state of the 5d$^4$ ($J=0)$ electronic configuration of Ir$^{5+}$., Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures

Ba2YIrO6, a Mott insulator, with four valence electrons in Ir5+ d-shell (5d4) is supposed to be non-magnetic, with Jeff = 0, within the atomic physics picture. However, recent suggestions of non-zero magnetism have raised some fundamental questions about its origin. Focussing on the phonon dynamics, probed via Raman scattering, as a function of temperature and different incident photon energies, as an external perturbation. Our studies reveal strong renormalization of the phonon self-energy parameters and integrated intensity for first-order modes, especially redshift of the few first-order modes with decreasing temperature and anomalous softening of modes associated with IrO6 octahedra, as well as high energy Raman bands attributed to the strong anharmonic phonons and coupling with orbital excitations. The distinct renormalization of second-order Raman bands with respect to their first-order counterpart suggest that higher energy Raman bands have significant contribution from orbital excitations. Our observation indicates that strong anharmonic phonons coupled with electronic/orbital degrees of freedom provides a knob for tuning the conventional electronic levels for 5d-orbitals, and this may give rise to non-zero magnetism as postulated in recent theoretical calculations with rich magnetic phases.

Recently, the iridate double perovskite Sr$_2$YIrO$_6$ has attracted considerable attention due to the report of unexpected magnetism in this Ir$^{5+}$ (5d$^4$) material, in which according to the J$_{eff}$ model, a non-magnetic ground state is expected. However, in recent works on polycrystalline samples of the series Ba$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$YIrO$_6$ no indication of magnetic transitions have been found. We present a structural, magnetic and thermodynamic characterization of Sr$_2$YIrO$_6$ single crystals, with emphasis on the temperature and magnetic field dependence of the specific heat. Here, we demonstrate the clue role of single crystal X-ray diffraction on the structural characterization of the Sr$_2$YIrO$_6$ double perovskite crystals by reporting the detection of a $\sqrt{2}a \times \sqrt{2}a \times 1c$ supercell, where $a$, $b$ and $c$ are the unit cell dimensions of the reported monoclinic subcell. In agreement with the expected non-magnetic ground state of Ir$^{5+}$ (5d$^4$) in Sr$_2$YIrO$_6$, no magnetic transition is observed down to 430~mK. Moreover, our results suggest that the low temperature anomaly observed in the specific heat is not related to the onset of long-range magnetic order. Instead, it is identified as a Schottky anomaly caused by paramagnetic impurities present in the sample, of the order of $n \sim 0.5(2)$ \%. These impurities lead to non-negligible spin correlations, which nonetheless, are not associated with long-range magnetic ordering., Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures

Materials with a 5d4 electronic configuration are generally considered to have a nonmagnetic ground state (J=0). Interestingly, Sr2YIrO6 (Ir5+ having 5d4 electronic configuration) was recently reported to exhibit long-range magnetic order at low temperature and the distorted IrO6 octahedra were discussed to cause the magnetism in this material. Hence, a comparison of structurally distorted Sr2YIrO6 with cubic Ba2YIrO6 may shed light on the source of magnetism in such Ir5+ materials with 5d4 configuration. Besides, Ir5+ materials having 5d4 are also interesting in the context of recently predicted excitonic types of magnetism. Here we report a single-crystal-based analysis of the structural, magnetic, and thermodynamic properties of Ba2YIrO6. We observe that in Ba2YIrO6 for temperatures down to 0.4 K, long-range magnetic order is absent but at the same time correlated magnetic moments are present. We show that these moments are absent in fully relativistic ab initio band-structure calculations; hence, their origin is presently unclear., Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures

CoAl2O4 spinel with magnetic Co2+ ions on the diamond A-lattice is known to be magnetically frustrated. We compare neutron single crystal diffraction patterns measured in zero and applied magnetic fields with the ones obtained from classical Monte-Carlo models. In simulations we test the influence of various parameters on diffraction patterns: the ratio of nearest-, J1, and next-nearest, J2, neighbor interactions, magnetic field applied along the principal crystallographic directions, and random disorder on the A(Co2+)- and B(Al3+)- sites. We conclude that the models considered so far explain the broadening of magnetic Bragg peaks in zero magnetic field and their anisotropic response to applied magnetic field only partly. As bulk properties of our single crystal are isotropic, we suggest that its microstructure, specifically <111>-twin boundaries, could be a reason of the nonconventional magnetic order in CoAl2O4., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures

A new method is proposed for variable screening, variable selection and prediction in linear regression problems where the number of predictors can be much larger than the number of observations. The method involves minimizing a penalized Euclidean distance, where the penalty is the geometric mean of the $\ell_1$ and $\ell_2$ norms of the regression coefficients. This particular formulation exhibits a grouping effect, which is useful for screening out predictors in higher or ultra-high dimensional problems. Also, an important result is a signal recovery theorem, which does not require an estimate of the noise standard deviation. Practical performances of variable selection and prediction are evaluated through simulation studies and the analysis of a dataset of mass spectrometry scans from melanoma patients, where excellent predictive performance is obtained., Comment: 20 pages

Cloning of arbitrary images encoded onto the spatial profile of a laser beam onto that of a second beam is theoretically investigated. The two fields couple to an atomic lambda system in a coherent population trapping configuration. In particular, the case in which the probe and control fields are of comparable strength is considered. By considering more and more complex structures, we eventually find that our method is suitable to clone arbitrary images, which we demonstrated by a full numerical simulation of the propagation dynamics of both applied fields in the atomic medium, with the three letters "CPT" encoded on the initial control field profile. We find that the cloned structures have feature sizes reduced by about a factor of 2 compared to the initial images, consistent with a recent related experiment., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures

Beam propagation beyond the paraxial approximation is studied in an optically written waveguide structure. The waveguide structure that leads to diffractionless light propagation, is imprinted on a medium consisting of a five-level atomic vapor driven by an incoherent pump and two coherent spatially dependent control and plane-wave fields. We first study propagation in a single optically written waveguide, and find that the paraxial approximation does not provide an accurate description of the probe propagation. We then employ coherent control fields such that two parallel and one tilted Gaussian beams produce a branched waveguide structure. The tilted beam allows selective steering of the probe beam into different branches of the waveguide structure. The transmission of the probe beam for a particular branch can be improved by changing the width of the titled Gaussian control beam as well as the intensity of the spatially dependent incoherent pump field., Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures

Grey solitons, with complex envelope, are obtained as exact solutions of the coupled system describing doped optical nonlinear fibers. The phase degree of freedom plays a crucial role in removing the restrictive equal frequency conditions on the tanh-sech paired pulses, identified earlier [1]. The cross-phase modulation is found to control the speed of the grey soliton, which has an upper bound. The coupled soliton solution obtained here was found to be stable in a wide parameter range., Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures

Diffractionless propagation of optical beams through atomic vapors is investigated. The atoms in the vapor are operated in a three-level Raman configuration. A suitably chosen control beam couples to one of the transitions, and thereby creates a spatially varying index of refraction modulation in the warm atomic vapor for a probe beam which couples to the other transition in the atoms. We show that a Laguerre-Gaussian control beam allows to propagate single Gaussian probe field modes as well as multi-Gaussian modes and non-Gaussian modes over macroscopic distances without diffraction. This opens perspectives for the propagation of arbitrary images through warm atomic vapors., Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures

We analyze the influence of dipole-dipole interactions in an electromagnetically induced transparency setup at high density. We show both analytically and numerically that the polarization contribution to the local field strongly modulates the phase of a weak pulse. We give an intuitive explanation for this local field induced phase modulation and show that it distinctively differs from the nonlinear self-phase modulation a strong pulse experiences in a Kerr medium.

We present a theoretical formulation of competition among electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) and Raman processes. The latter become important when the medium can no longer be considered to be dilute. Unlike the standard formulation of EIT, we consider all fields applied and generated as interacting with both the transitions of the $\Lambda$ scheme. We solve Maxwell equations for the net generated field using a fast-Fourier-transform technique and obtain predictions for the probe, control and Raman fields. We show how the intensity of the probe field is depleted at higher atomic number densities due to the build up of multiple Raman fields., Comment: 3.5 pages, 7 figures

The resistive and reactive parts of the magneto-impedance of sintered ferromagnetic samples of La0.7Sr0.3-xAgxMnO3 (x = 0.05, 0.25) have been measured at room temperature (

We calculate the characteristics of ultraslow light in an inhomogeneously broadened medium. We present analytical and numerical results for the group delay as a function of power of the propagating pulse. We apply these results to explain the recently reported saturation behavior [Baldit {\it et al.}, \prl {\bf 95}, 143601 (2005)] of ultraslow light in rare earth ion doped crystal., Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures

We develop models for the propagation of intense pulses in solid state media which can have either saturated absorption or exhibit reverse absorption . We show that the experiments of Bigelow {\it et al.}[Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 90}, 113903 (2003); Science {\bf 301}, 200 (2003).] on subluminal propagation in Ruby and superluminal propagation in Alexandrite are well explained by modelling them as three level and four level systems coupled to Maxwell equations. We present results well beyond the traditional pump-probe approach., Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures