Effects of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction on low-energy magnetic excitations in copper benzoate

We have investigated the physical effects of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction in copper benzoate. In the low-field limit, the spin gap is found to vary as H(2/3)ln(1/6)(J/mu(B)H(s)) (H-s: an effective staggered field induced by the external field H) in agreement with the prediction of conformal field theory, while the staggered magnetization varies as H-1/3 and the ln(1/3)(J/mu(B)H(s)) correction predicted by conformal field theory is not confirmed. The linear scaling relation between the momentum shift and the magnetization is broken. We have determined the coupling constant of the DM interaction and have given a complete quantitative account for the field dependence of the spin gaps along all three principal axes, without resorting to additional interactions such as interchain coupling. A crossover to strong applied field behavior is predicted for further experimental verification.