Experimental studies of random-field effects in uniaxial random antiferromagnets (invited)

Abstract

We discuss how random fields (RFs) are generated in uniaxial random antiferromagnets (URAFs) by applied fields and review the experiments that have been performed on these systems. They include direct and indirect specific heat measurements, neutron-scattering experiments, and phase diagram studies. We compare the results of different experiments on different systems, discuss their implications on the theories, and suggest further experiments. A new explanation for the Lorentzian-squared (LSQ) structure factor observed in the neutron-scattering experiments is also given.