No Arabic abstract
Magnetic frustration in metals is scarce and hard to pinpoint, but exciting due to the possibility of the emergence of fascinating novel phases. The cubic intermetallic compound HoInCu$_4$ with all holmium atoms on an fcc lattice, exhibits partial magnetic frustration, yielding a ground state where half of the Ho moments remain without long-range order, as evidenced by our neutron scattering experiments. The substitution of In with Cd results in HoCdCu$_4$ in a full breakdown of magnetic frustration. Consequently we found a fully ordered magnetic structure in our neutron diffraction experiments. These findings are in agreement with the local energy scales and crystal electric field excitations, which we determined from specific heat and inelastic neutron scattering data. The electronic density of states for the itinerant bands acts as tuning parameter for the ratio between nearest-neighbor and next-nearest-neighbor interactions and thus for magnetic frustration.
In the dense metal-organic framework Na[Mn(HCOO)$_3$], Mn$^{2+}$ ions ($S=frac{5}{2}$) occupy the nodes of a `trillium hyperkagome net. We show that this material exhibits a variety of behaviour characteristic of geometric frustration: the Neel transition is suppressed well below the characteristic magnetic interaction strength; short-range magnetic order persists far above the Neel temperature; and the magnetic susceptibility exhibits a pseudo-plateau at $frac{1}{3}$-saturation magnetisation. We demonstrate that a simple nearest-neighbour Heisenberg antiferromagnet model accounts quantitatively for each observation, and hence Na[Mn(HCOO)$_3$] is the first experimental realisation of this model on the trillium net. We develop a mapping between this trillium model and that on the two-dimensional Shastry-Sutherland lattice, and demonstrate how both link geometric frustration within the classical spin liquid regime to a strong magnetocaloric response at low fields.
We have performed high resolution neutron diffraction and inelastic neutron scattering experiments in the frustrated multiferroic hexagonal compounds RMnO3 (R=Ho, Yb, Sc, Y), which provide evidence of a strong magneto-elastic coupling in the the whole family. We can correlate the atomic positions, the type of magnetic structure and the nature of the spin waves whatever the R ion and temperature. The key parameter is the position of the Mn ions in the unit cell with respect to a critical threshold of 1/3, which determines the sign of the coupling between Mn triangular planes.
We investigated the electronic structure of layered Mn oxide Bi3Mn4O12(NO3) with a Mn honeycomb lattice by x-ray absorption spectroscopy. The valence of Mn was determined to be 4+ with a small charge-transfer energy. We estimated the values of superexchange interactions up to the fourth nearest neighbors (J1, J2, J3, and J4) by unrestricted Hartree-Fock calculations and a perturbation method. We found that the absolute values of J1 through J4 are similar with positive (antiferromagnetic) J1 and J4, and negative (ferromagnetic) J2 and J3, due to Mn-O-O-Mn pathways activated by the smallness of charge-transfer energy. The negative J3 provides magnetic frustration in the honeycomb lattice to prevent long-range ordering.
The rich phase diagrams of magnetically frustrated pyrochlores have maintained a high level of interest over the past 20 years. To experimentally explore these phase diagrams requires a means of tuning the relevant interactions. One approach to achieve this is chemical pressure, that is, varying the size of the non-magnetic cation. Here, we report on a new family of lead-based pyrochlores A$_2$Pb$_2$O$_7$ (A = Pr, Nd, Gd), which we have characterized with magnetic susceptibility and specific heat. Lead is the largest known possible B-site cation for the pyrochlore lattice. Thus, these materials significantly expand the phase space of the frustrated pyrochlores. Pr$_2$Pb$_2$O$_7$ has an absence of long-range magnetic order down to 400 mK and a spin ice-like heat capacity anomaly at 1.2 K. Thus, Pr$_2$Pb$_2$O$_7$ is a candidate for a quantum spin ice state, despite weaker exchange. Nd$_2$Pb$_2$O$_7$ transitions to a magnetically ordered state at 0.41 K. The Weiss temperature for Nd$_2$Pb$_2$O$_7$ is $theta_{text{CW}}$ = $-$0.06 K, indicating close competition between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions. Gd$_2$Pb$_2$O$_7$ is a Heisenberg antiferromagnet that transitions to long-range magnetic order at 0.81 K, in spite of significant site mixing. Below its ordering transition, we find a $T^{3/2}$ heat capacity dependence in Gd$_2$Pb$_2$O$_7$, confirmation of a ground state that is distinct from other gadolinium pyrochlores. These lead-based pyrochlores provide insight into the effects of weakened exchange on highly frustrated lattices and represent further realizations of several exotic magnetic ground states which can test theoretical models.
The magnetic properties and Mott transition of the Hubbard model on the square lattice with frustration are studied at half-filling and zero temperature by the variational cluster approximation. When the on-site repulsion $U$ is large, magnetically disordered state is realized in highly frustrated region between the Neel and collinear phases, and no imcommensurate magnetic states are found there. As for the Mott transition, in addition to the Mott gap and double occupancy, which clarify the nature of the transition, the structure of the self-energy in the spectral representation is studied in detail below and above the Mott transition point. The spectral structure of the self-energy is almost featureless in the metallic phase, but clear single dispersion, leading to the Mott gap, appears in the Mott insulator phase.