Direct Observation of the High Magnetic Field Effect on the Jahn-Teller State in TbVO4

Phys Rev Lett. 2008 Feb 8;100(5):056405. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.056405. Epub 2008 Feb 8.

Abstract

We report the first direct observation of the influence of high magnetic fields on the Jahn-Teller (JT) transition in TbVO(4). Contrary to spectroscopic and magnetic methods, x-ray diffraction directly measures the JT distortion; the splitting between the (311)/(131) and (202)/(022) pairs of Bragg reflections is proportional to the order parameter. Our experimental results are compared to mean-field calculations, taking into account all possible orientations of the grains relative to the applied field, and qualitative agreement is obtained.