Magnetism in Low-Dimensions
One of the new frontiers in condensed-matter physics lies in the field of critical behaviour, especially in "dirty" low-dimensional spin-gap systems involving quantum impurities. Their fascinating and adverse properties allows one to address unresolved but interrelated issues, for example, the nature of the quasi-particle excitations in strongly correlated electronic solids, such as the high-temperature superconductors. Unfortunately only a small number of inorganic chemical compounds with such structural features have been examined so far. We search for chemical compounds with unusual low-dimensional cation arrangement. The influence of either the spin or charge degrees of freedom and the effect of their lattice topology are examined as crucial parameters for the fundamental understanding of the phase transformations involved and deviations from the possibly gapped ground state.
Chemical models: PbNi2V2O8 (1D Ni-chains), SrCu2(BO3)2 (2D Cu-planes).