Prof. Way-Faung Pong, a NSRRC user from Tamkang University, along with collaborators from Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and Osaka University, published the first research article using the cold neutron triple-axis spectrometer, SIKA.
Published in the Physical Review B, the team used SIKA to perform elastic and inelastic neutron scattering experiments on a single crystal of (Ni0.4Mn0.6)TiO3 (NMTO) to investigate the spatial correlations and the spin dynamics in the XY-like spin-glass state. The experimental findings show that short-range-ordered antiferromagnetic clusters with short-lived spin correlations are present in the XY-like SG state of NMTO. It was found that these magnetic correlations are over three times longer in the plane than out, but the relaxation processes in the two directions were within experimental error of each other.
Located at ANSTO, SIKA is the Taiwan-Australian neutron instrument, built based on the “Agreement on Neutron Beam Applications Research” between the National Science Council (NSC) and Australia. NSRRC was commissioned by the NSC to maintain and operate SIKA in 2013. SIKA, a cold neutron triple-axis spectrometer, is designed for studies in low-energy excitations; it is an effective tool to understand novel ground states of materials, such as superconductors and other strongly correlated systems, low dimensional magnets, etc.