Indication for a chiral phase in the molecular magnetic chain Gd(hfac)(3)NiTiPr by specific heat and mu+SR measurements

Specific heat and muon spin relaxation (mu(+)SR) measurements performed in the molecular magnetic chain Gd(hfac)(3)NiTiPr provide indication for the onset, at T-0 = 2.08 K, of a phase with chiral order in the absence of long-range helical order. Specific heat data (probing the chirality-chirality correlation function) show a peak at T-0 that disappears upon application of a 5 T magnetic field, while mu(+)SR data (probing the spin-spin correlation function) do not present any anomaly at T-0 nor oscillations in the asymmetry curve below T-0.