title: Evidence of a bond-nematic phase in LiCuVO4.
abstract: Polarized and unpolarized neutron scattering experiments on the frustrated ferromagnetic spin-1/2 chain LiCuVO4 show that the phase transition at H(Q) of 8 T is driven by quadrupolar fluctuations and that dipolar correlations are short range with moments parallel to the applied magnetic field in the high-field phase. Heat-capacity measurements evidence a phase transition into this high-field phase, with an anomaly clearly different from that at low magnetic fields. Our experimental data are consistent with a picture where the ground state above H(Q) has a next-nearest neighbor bond-nematic order along the chains with a fluidlike coherence between weakly coupled chains.
authors.affiliation: Institut Laue-Langevin, BP 156, F-38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mourigal
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Enderle
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fåk
authors.forename: R K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Kremer
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Law
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schneidewind
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hiess
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Prokofiev