Magnetization Plateaus in NH₄CuCl₃

The magnetic susceptibility and high-field magnetization process of NH₄CuCl₃ with double chains of CuCl₃ have been measured using single crystals. No anomaly indicative of the three-dimensional ordering is observed in susceptibility data above 1.7 K. It is found, by magnetization measurement down to 0.5 K, that in contrast to KCuCl₃ and TlCuCl₃, NH₄CuCl₃ has a gapless magnetic ground state at zero field. It is observed that the magnetization curve has two plateaus at one-quarter and three-quarters of the saturation magnetization, irrespective of the external field direction. The origin of the plateaus is attributed not to the magnetic anisotropy, but to the quantum effect. The relation between the plateaus and the period of the spin state is discussed in terms of a recent theory presented by Oshikawa et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 78 (1997) 1984].