Two-magnon Raman scattering from the Cu3O4 layers in (Sr-2,Ba-2)Cu3O4Cl

Journal article, 2009

(Sr-2,Ba-2)Cu3O4Cl2 are antiferromagnetic insulators which are akin to the parent compounds of the cuprate superconductors but with two distinct magnetic ordering temperatures related to two magnetic Cu-I and Cu-II spin sublattices. Here we present a study of these materials by means of Raman spectroscopy. Following the temperature and polarization dependence of the data, we readily identify two distinct features at around 3000 and 300 cm(-1) that are related to two-magnon scattering from the two sublattices. The estimated spin-exchange coupling constants for the Cu-I and Cu-II sublattices are found to be J(I)similar to 139-143(132-136) meV and J(II)similar to 14 (11) meV for Sr(Ba) compounds. Moreover, we observe modes at around 480 and 445 cm(-1) for the Sr and Ba containing samples, respectively, which disappears at the ordering temperature of the Cu-II. We argue that these modes may also be of magnetic origin and possibly related to interband transitions between the Cu-I-Cu-II sublattices.