Observation of magnetoelastic effects in a quasi-one-dimensional spiral magnet*

We present a systematic study of spin and lattice dynamics in the quasi-one-dimensional spiral magnet CuBr₂, using Raman scattering in conjunction with infrared and neutron spectroscopy. Along with the development of spin correlations upon cooling, we observe a rich set of broad Raman bands at energies that correspond to phonon-dispersion energies near the one-dimensional magnetic wave vector. The low-energy bands further exhibit a distinct intensity maximum at the spiral magnetic ordering temperature. We attribute these unusual observations to two possible underlying mechanisms: (1) formation of hybrid spin-lattice excitations and/or (2) “quadrumerization” of the lattice caused by spin-singlet entanglement in competition with the spiral magnetism.