Field-induced States and Excitations in the Quasicritical Spin- <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mn>1</mml:mn><mml:mo stretchy="false">/</mml:mo><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:math> Chain Linarite

The mineral linarite, PbCuSO_4OH)_2 is a spin 1/2 chain with frustrating nearest neighbor ferromagnetic and next-nearest neighbor antiferromagnetic exchange interactions. Our inelastic neutron scattering experiments performed above the saturation field establish that the ratio between these exchanges is such that linarite is extremely close to the quantum critical point between spin-multipolar phases and the ferromagnetic state. However,...