Revival of the spin-Peierls transition in Cu1-xZnxGeO3 under pressure

Pressure- and temperature-dependent susceptibility and Raman scattering experiments on single-crystalline Cu0.986Zn0.014GeO3 have shown an unusually strong increase of the spin-Peierls phase transition temperature upon applying hydrostatic pressure. The large positive pressure coefficient (7.5 K/GPa)—almost twice as large as for the pure compound (4.5 K/GPa)—is interpreted as arising due to an increasing magnetic frustration which decreases the spin-spin correlation length, and thereby weakens the influence of the nonmagnetic Zn substitution.