No Arabic abstract
The recently discovered material Cs$_3$Fe$_2$Br$_9$ contains Fe$_2$Br$_9$ bi-octahedra forming triangular layers with hexagonal stacking along the $c$ axis. In contrast to isostructural Cr-based compounds, the zero-field ground state is not a nonmagnetic $S=0$ singlet-dimer state. Instead, the Fe$_2$Br$_9$ bi-octahedra host semiclassical $S=5/2$ Fe$^{3+}$ spins with a pronounced easy-axis anisotropy along $c$ and interestingly, the intra-dimer spins are ordered ferromagnetically. The high degree of magnetic frustration due to (various) competing intra- and inter-dimer couplings leads to a surprisingly rich magnetic phase diagram. Already the zero-field ground state is reached via an intermediate phase, and the high-field magnetization and thermal expansion data for $Hparallel c$ identify ten different ordered phases. Among them are phases with constant magnetization of 1/3, respectively 1/2 of the saturation value, and several transitions are strongly hysteretic with pronounced length changes reflecting strong magnetoelastic coupling.
The magnetic phases of a triangular-lattice antiferromagnet, CuCrO$_2$, were investigated in magnetic fields along to the $c$ axis, $H$ // [001], up to 120 T. Faraday rotation and magneto-absorption spectroscopy were used to unveil the rich physics of magnetic phases. An up-up-down (UUD) magnetic structure phase was observed around 90--105 T at temperatures around 10 K. Additional distinct anomalies adjacent to the UUD phase were uncovered and the Y-shaped and the V-shaped phases are proposed to be viable candidates. These ordered phases are emerged as a result of the interplay of geometrical spin frustration, single ion anisotropy and thermal fluctuations in an environment of extremely high magnetic fields.
Here, we report both ac and dc magnetization, thermodynamic and electric properties of hexagonal Ba$_3$NiIr$_2$O$_9$. The Ni$^{2+}$ (spin-1) forms layered triangular-lattice and interacts antiferromagnetically while Ir$^{5+}$ is believed to act as magnetic link between the layers. This complex magnetic interaction results in magnetic frustration leading to a spin-glass transition at $T_f$ $sim$ 8.5 K. The observed magnetic relaxation and aging effect also confirms the nonequilibrium ground state. The system further shows large exchange bias which is tunable with cooling field. Below the Curie-Weiss temperature $theta_{CW}$ ($sim$ -29 K), the magnetic specific heat $C_m$ displays a broad hump and at low temperature follows $C_m = gamma T^alpha$ dependence where both $gamma$ and $alpha$ show dependence on temperature and magnetic field. A sign change in magnetoresistace is observed which is due to an interplay among magnetic moment, field and spin-orbit coupling.
LiZn$_2$Mo$_3$O$_8$ is an electrically insulating geometrically frustrated antiferromagnet in which inorganic Mo$_3$O$_{13}$ clusters each behaves as a single $S = 1/2$ unit, with the clusters arranged on a two-dimensional triangular lattice. Prior results have shown that LiZn$_2$Mo$_3$O$_8$ does not exhibit static magnetic order down to at least $T = 0.05,K$, and instead possesses a valence bond ground state. Here, we show that LiZn$_2$Mo$_3$O$_8$ can be hole doped by oxidation with $mathrm{I}_2$ and subsequent removal of $mathrm{Zn}^{2+}$ cations to access the entire range of electron count, from one to zero unpaired electrons per site on the triangular lattice. Contrary to expectations, no metallic state is induced; instead, the primary effect is to suppress the number of sites contributing to the condensed valence-bond state. Further, diffraction and pair-distribution function analysis show no evidence for local Jahn-Teller distortions or other deviations from the parent trigonal symmetry as a function of doping or temperature. Taken together, the data and density functional theory calculations indicate that removal of electrons from the magnetic layers favors Anderson localization of the resulting hole and an increase in the electrical band-gap over the formation of a metallic and superconducting state. These results put strong constraints on the chemical conditions necessary to realize metallic states from parent insulating geometrically frustrated antiferromagnets.
Quantum fluctuations in the effective spin one-half layered structure triangular-lattice quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet Ba$_3$CoSb$_2$O$_9$ lift the classical degeneracy of the antiferromagnetic ground state in magnetic field, producing a series of novel spin structures for magnetic fields applied within the crystallographic ab plane. Theoretically unresolved, however, are the effects of interlayer antferromagnetic coupling and transverse magnetic fields on the ground states of this system. To address these issues, we have used specific heat, neutron diffraction, thermal conductivity, and magnetic torque measurements to map out the phase diagram as a function of magnetic field intensity and orientation relative to the crystallographic ab plane. For H parallel to the ab plane, we have discovered an additional, previously unreported magnetic-field-induced phase transition at low temperature and an unexpected tetracritical point in the high field phase diagram, which - coupled with the apparent second-order nature of the phase transitions - eliminates several theoretically proposed spin structures for the high field phases. Our calorimetric measurements as a function of magnetic field orientation are in general agreement with theory for field-orientation angles close to plane parallel but diverge at angles near plane perpendicular; a predicted convergence of two phase boundaries at finite angle and a corresponding change in the order of the field induced phase transition is not observed experimentally. Our results emphasize the role of interlayer coupling in selecting and stabilizing field-induced phases, provide new guidance into the nature of the magnetic order in each phase, and reveal the need for new physics to account for the nature of magnetic ordering in this archetypal 2D spin one-half triangular lattice quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet.
We investigate the low temperature magnetic properties of a $S=frac{5}{2}$ Heisenberg kagome antiferromagnet, the layered monodiphosphate Li$_9$Fe$_3$(P$_2$O$_7$)$_3$(PO$_4$)$_2$, using magnetization measurements and $^{31}$P nuclear magnetic resonance. An antiferromagnetic-type order sets in at $T_{rm N}=1.3$ K and a characteristic magnetization plateau is observed at 1/3 of the saturation magnetization below $T^* sim 5$ K. A moderate $^{31}$P NMR line broadening reveals the development of anisotropic short-range correlations within the plateau phase concomitantly with a gapless spin-lattice relaxation time $T_1 sim k_B T / hbar S$, which both point to the presence of a semiclassical nematic spin liquid state predicted for the Heisenberg kagome antiferromagnetic model.