Magnetic field induced anisotropy of 139La spin-lattice relaxation rates in stripe ordered La1.875Ba0.125CuO4

We report 139La nuclear magnetic resonance studies performed on a La1.875Ba0.125CuO4 single crystal. The data show that the structural phase transitions (high-temperature tetragonal → low-temperature orthorhombic → low-temperature tetragonal phase) are of the displacive type in this material. The 139La spin-lattice relaxation rate T–11 sharply upturns at the charge-ordering temperature TCO = 54 K, indicating that charge order triggers the slowing down of spin fluctuations. Detailed temperature and field dependencies of the T–11 below the spin-ordering temperature TSO=40 K reveal the development of enhanced spin fluctuations in the spin-ordered state for H ∥ [001], which are completely suppressed for large fields along the CuO2 planes. Lastly, our results shed light on the unusual spin fluctuations in the charge and spin stripe ordered lanthanum cuprates.