Magnetization, magnetic torque, neutron diffraction and NMR experiments are used to map out the $H$$-$$T$ phase diagram of the prototypical quasi-two-dimensional ferro-antiferromagnet Pb$_2$VO(PO$_4$)$_2$ in magnetic fields up to 27 T. When the field is applied perpendicular to the axis of magnetic anisotropy, a new magnetic state emerges through a discontinuous transition and persists in a narrow field range just below saturation. The measured NMR spectra suggest a complex and possibly incommensurate magnetic order in that regime.
We study a frustrated 3D antiferromagnet of stacked $J_1 - J_2$ layers. The intermediate 'quantum spin liquid' phase, present in the 2D case, narrows with increasing interlayer coupling and vanishes at a triple point. Beyond this there is a direct first-order transition from N{\' e}el to columnar order. Possible applications to real materials are discussed.
We argue that collinearly ordered states which exist in strongly frustrated spin systems for special rational values of the magnetization are stabilized by thermal as well as quantum fluctuations. These general predictions are tested by Monte Carlo simulations for the classical and Lanczos diagonalization for the S=1/2 frustrated square-lattice antiferromagnet.
New frustrated antiferromagnetic compounds CuRE2Ge2O8 (RE=Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu) have been investigated using high-resolution x-ray diffraction, magnetic and heat capacity measurements. These systems show different magnetic lattices depending on rare-earth element. The nonmagnetic Eu compound is a S=1/2 two-dimensional triangular antiferromagnetic lattice oriented in the ac plane with geometrical frustration. On the other hand, the Pr, Nd, and Sm compounds show a three-dimensional honeycomb-tunnel-like lattice made of RE^3+ running along the a axis with the characteristic behavior of frustrated antif…
The effect of site dilution by non magnetic impurities on the susceptibility of geometrically frustrated antiferromagnets (kagome and pyrochlore lattices) is discussed in the framework of the Generalized Constant Coupling model, for both classical and quantum Heisenberg spins. For the classical diluted pyrochlore lattice, excellent agreement is found when compared with Monte Carlo data. Results for the quantum case are also presented and discussed.
Using Monte Carlo simulations, we study the critical behavior of two models of frustrated XY antiferromagnets with a collinear spin ordering and with an additional twofold degeneracy of the ground state. We consider a classic antiferromagnet on a body-centered cubic lattice with an additional antiferromagnetic exchange interaction between next-nearest spins, and a ferromagnet with an extra antiferromagnetic intralayer exchange. In both models, a single first-order transition on the discrete and continuous order parameters is found. Observed critical pseudo-exponents are in agreement with expon…
muSR and 7Li NMR relaxation measurements in frustrated two-dimensional S=1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnets on a square lattice are presented. It is found that both in Li2VOSiO4 and Li2VOGeO4, spin dynamics at frequencies well below the Heisenberg exchange frequency are present. These dynamics are associated with the motions of walls separating coexisting collinear domains with a magnetic wave vector rotated by 90 degrees.
A generalized constant coupling approximation for quantum geometrically frustrated antiferromagnets is presented. Starting from a frustrated unit, we introduce the interactions with the surrounding units in terms of an internal effective field which is fixed by a self consistency condition. Results for the static magnetic susceptibility and specific heat are compared with previous results in the framework of this same model for the classical limit. The range of applicability of the model is discussed.
Using inelastic magnetic neutron scattering we have discovered a localized spin resonance at 4.5 meV in the ordered phase of the geometrically frustrated cubic antiferromagnet $\rm ZnCr_2O_4$. The resonance develops abruptly from quantum critical fluctuations upon cooling through a first order transition to a co-planar antiferromagnet at $T_c=12.5(5)$ K. We argue that this transition is a three dimensional analogue of the spin-Peierls transition.
We propose a general non-perturbative scheme that quantitatively maps the low-energy sector of spin-1/2 frustrated Heisenberg antiferromagnets to effective Generalized Quantum Dimer Models. We develop the formal lattice independent frame and establish some important results on (i) the locality of the generated Hamiltonians (ii) how full resummations can be performed in this renormalization scheme. The method is then applied to the much debated kagome antiferromagnet for which a fully resummed effective Hamiltonian - shown to capture the essential properties and provide deep insights on the mic…
We develop a theory of spontaneously magnetized Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (SMTLL) in geometrically frustrated quasi-one-dimensional quantum magnets by taking an $S=1/2$ ferrimagnet on a union-jack lattice as an example. We show that a strong frustration leads to a spontaneous magnetization because of the ferrimagnetic nature of lattice. Due to the ferrimagnetic order, the local magnetization has an incommensurate oscillation with the position. We show that the spontaneously magnetized TLL is smoothly connected to the existence of a Nambu-Goldstone boson in the canted ferrimagnetic phase of a t…
Frustrated bilayer quantum magnets have attracted attention as flat-band spin systems with unconventional thermodynamic properties. We study the low-temperature properties of a frustrated honeycomb-lattice bilayer spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ isotropic ($XXX$) Heisenberg antiferromagnet in a magnetic field by means of an effective low-energy theory using exact diagonalizations and quantum Monte Carlo simulations. Our main focus is on the magnetization curve and the temperature dependence of the specific heat indicating a finite-temperature phase transition in high magnetic fields.
In a strongly frustrated square-lattice antiferromagnet with diagonal coupling J', for J/(2J') < 1, an incommensurate spiral state with propagation vector Q = (π+/- δ, π+/- δ) near (π,π) competes closely with the Neel collinear antiferromagnetic ground state. For classical Heisenberg spins the energy of the spiral state can be lowered as it adapts to the distortion of the crystal lattice. As a result, a weak superstructural modulation such as exist in doped cuprates might stabilize an incommensurate spiral phase for some range of the parameter J/(2J') close to 1.
We describe the four kinds of behavior found in two-dimensional isotropic quantum antiferromagnets. Two of them display long range order at T=0: the Néel state and the Valence Bond Crystal. The last two are Spin-Liquids. Properties of these different states are shortly described and open questions are underlined.
We investigate quantum phase transitions for the $s=1/2$ antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on a pyrochlore lattice. By means of a series expansion starting from isolated tetrahedra, the ground-state phase diagram is determined. When the ratio of the two competing exchange couplings is varied, the first-order (second-order) quantum phase transition occurs between the two spin gap phases (the spin-gap and the antiferromagnetic phases). We also discuss some properties expected for the s=1 pyrochlore spin system.
We analyze the zero temperature phase diagrams of the spin S quantum antiferromagnet on square and triangular lattices with competing nearest and next-nearest exchange interactions as well as biquadratic couplings. We approach the problem from the large S limit. Our primary focus is on determining the extent to which the existence and character of any quantum disordered phases can be inferred from this approach.
Single crystal elastic and inelastic neutron scattering experiments are performed on the frustrated ferro-antiferromagnet SrZnVO(PO4)2 in high magnetic fields. The fully polarized state, the presaturation phase and the columnar-antiferromagnetic phase just bellow the presaturation phase were investigated. The observed renormalization of spin wave bandwidths, re-distribution of intensities between different branches and non-linearities in the magnetization curve are all indicative of strong deviations from classical spin wave theory. The previously observed presaturation transition is attribute…
We discuss theoretically a frustrated Heisenberg antiferromagnet in magnetic field close to the saturation one. It is demonstrated that a small biaxial anisotropy and/or the magnetic dipolar interaction produce a delicate balance between phases with a commensurate canted, incommensurate helical (conical), and fan spin orderings. As a result, different sequences of phase transitions are realized depending on values of these small anisotropic interactions. We derive analytical expressions for critical fields and ground-state energies of the phases which are in a quantitative agreement with our a…
We calculate the two-magnon Raman scattering spectra in antiferromagnetic phases of several frustrated spin models defined on the honeycomb lattice. These include the Néel antiferromagnetic phase of a $J_1$-$J_2$-$J_3$ model and the stripe phase of the Heisenberg-Kitaev model. We show that both the magnetic frustration and the anisotropy of interactions may significantly affect the Raman spectra. We further discuss the implications of our results to the magnetic excitations of the iron-based compound BaFe$_2$Se$_2$O and show how the magnetic interactions can be extracted from fit to the Raman …
Using a lattice-gas description of the low-energy degrees of freedom of the quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the frustrated two-leg ladder and bilayer lattices we examine the magnetization process at low temperatures for these spin models. In both cases the emergent discrete degrees of freedom implicate a close relation of the frustrated quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet to the classical lattice gas with finite nearest-neighbor repulsion or, equivalently, to the Ising antiferromagnet in a uniform magnetic field. Using this relation we obtain analytical results for thermodynamically large…
We describe four phases found in two-dimensional quantum antiferromagnets. Two of them display long range order at T=0: the Néel state and the Valence Bond Crystal. The last two are Spin-Liquids. Properties of these different states are shortly described and likely conditions of their occurence outlined.
A generalized constant coupling approximation for classical geometrically frustrated antiferromagnets is presented. Starting from a frustrated unit we introduce the interactions with the surrounding units in terms of an internal effective field which is fixed by a self consistency condition. Results for the magnetic susceptibility and specific heat are compared with Monte Carlo data for the classical Heisenberg model for the pyrochlore and kagome lattices. The predictions for the susceptibility are found to be essentially exact, and the corresponding predictions for the specific heat are found…
We present a certain class of two-dimensional frustrated quantum Heisenberg spin systems with multiple ring exchange interactions which are rigorously demonstrated to have quantum disordered ground states without magnetic long-range order. The systems considered in this paper are s=1/2 antiferromagnets on a honeycomb and square lattices, and an s=1 antiferromagnet on a triangular lattice. We find that for a particular set of parameter values, the ground state is a short-range resonating valence bond state or a valence bond crystal state. It is shown that these systems are closely related to th…
A magnetic origin for the honeycomb reconstruction of metallic surfaces with three-fold symmetry like Pb/Ge (111) is proposed. Assuming that the groundstate is an antiferromagnetic insulator over the triangular lattice of adatom sites (Pb), we demonstrate that the former is simultaneously unstable to canting and to a structural distortion if the surface is soft enough. We therefore predict a net magnetization over the reconstructed surface at sufficiently low temperature.
We report the observation of a Griffiths Phase in the geometrically frustrated antiferromagnet DyBaCo${_4}$O${_{7+δ}}$. Its onset is determined using measurements of the thermoremanent magnetization, which is shown to be superior to conventional in-field measurement protocols for the identification of the Griffiths Phase. Within this phase, the temporal relaxation of magnetization exhibits a functional form which is expected for Heisenberg systems, reflecting the nature of spin interactions in this class of materials. Interestingly, the effective Co${^{2+}}$/Co${^{3+}}$ ratio tailored by varyi…
Simple mean-field approach for frustrated antiferromagnets on hexagonal lattices, aimed to describe the high-temperature part of the temperature-magnetic field phase diagram, is proposed. It is shown, that an interplay between modulation vector symmetry, Zeeman energy and magneto-dipolar interaction leads to stabilization of the triple-$Q$ skyrmion lattice in a certain region of the phase diagram. Corresponding analytical expressions for phase boundaries are derived. It is argued that the developed theory can be applied for the description of the high-temperature part of the phase diagram obse…
Using the Density Matrix Renormalization Group method, we determined the phase diagram of a frustrated antiferromagnetic spin-$\frac 1 2$ ladder at zero temperature. Two spin-gapped phases, the Haldane phase and the singlet phase, are identified. A phase transition between the two phases occurs at any non-zero value of frustration coupling $J_{\times}$. On the phase boundary, the spin gap vanishes for sufficiently small $J_{\times}$. Crossing this non-gapped line, the transition is of second order, while of first order for larger $J_{\times}$. Striking frustration effects are predicted for lad…
We explore both analytically and numerically the properties of doped t-J models on a class of highly frustrated lattices, such as the kagome and the pyrochlore lattice. Focussing on a particular sign of the hopping integral and antiferromagnetic exchange, we find a generic symmetry breaking instability towards a twofold degenerate ground state at a fractional filling below half filling. These states show modulated bond strengths and only break lattice symmetries. They can be seen as a generalization of the well-known valence bond solid states to fractional filling.
This paper examines the relation between the spin-wave instabilities of collinear magnetic phases and the resulting non-collinear phases for a geometrically-frustrated triangular-lattice antiferromagnet in the high spin limit. Using a combination of phenomenological and Monte-Carlo techniques, we demonstrate that the instability wave-vector with the strongest intensity in the collinear phase determines the wave-vector of a cycloid or the dominant elastic peak of a more complex non-collinear phase. Our results are related to the observed multi-ferroic phase of Al-doped CuFeO$_2$.
Dielectric responses have been investigated on the triangular-lattice antiferromagnet CuFeO2 and its site-diluted analogs CuFe1-xAlxO2 (x=0.01 and 0.02) with and without application of magnetic field. We have found a ferroelectric behavior at zero magnetic field for x=0.02. At any doping level, the onset field of the ferroelectricity always coincides with that of the noncollinear magnetic structure while the transition field dramatically decreases to zero field with Al doping. The results imply the further possibility of producing the ferroelectricity by modifying the frustrated spin structure…
We investigate non-equilibrium properties of the frustrated Heisenberg antiferromagnets on the triangular lattice. Nonequilibrium critical relaxation of frustrated Heisenberg antiferromagnets shows a dynamic transition (or, at least, sharp crossover) at the same temperature $T_{\rm u}=0.282 J$ as for static properties due to unbinding of $\mathbb{Z}_2$-vortices. We show that starting from the high-temperature initial state, due to presence of $\mathbb{Z}_2$-vortices in the considering system, in a broad temperature range $T<T_{\rm u}$ the dynamic properties in the intermediate time range are s…
We have studied the two-dimensional S=1/2 square-lattice antiferromagnet $Cu(pz)_2(ClO_4)_2$ using inelastic neutron scattering and series expansion calculations. We show that the presence of antiferromagnetic next-nearest neighbor interactions enhances quantum fluctuations associated with resonating valence bonds. Intermediate magnetic fields lead to a selective tuning of resonating valence bonds and a spectacular inversion of the zone-boundary dispersion, providing novel insight into 2D antiferromagnetism in the quantum limit.
Using the density-matrix renormalization group, we determine the phase diagram of the spin 1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a honeycomb lattice with a nearest neighbor interaction J1 and a frustrating, next-neighbor exchange J2. As frustration increases, the ground state exhibits Neel, plaquette and dimer orders, with critical points at J2/J1 = 0.22 and 0.35. We observe that both the spin gap and the corresponding order parameters vanish continuously at both the critical points, indicating the presence of deconfined quantum criticality.
Spin dynamics of the spin-1/2 kagome lattice antiferromagnet Cs$_2$Cu$_3$SnF$_{12}$ was studied using high-resolution, time-of-flight inelastic neutron scattering. The flat mode, a characteristic of the frustrated kagome antiferromagnet, and the low-energy dispersive mode, which is dominated by magnons, can be well described by the linear spin-wave theory. However, the theory fails to describe three weakly dispersive modes between 9 and 14 meV. These modes could be attributed to two-spinon bound states, which decay into free spinons away from the zone center and at a high temperature, giving r…
Single crystals of the frustrated S=1/2 ferro-antiferromagnetic proximate square lattice material SrZnZnVO(PO$_4$)$_2$ are studied in magnetometric, calorimetric, neutron diffraction and inelastic neutron scattering experiments. The measured spin wave spectrum reveals a substantial degree of magnetic frustration and a large quantum renormalization of the exchange constants. The H-T magnetic phase diagram is established. It features a novel pre-saturation phase, which appears for only one particular field orientation. The results are discussed noting the similarities and differences with the pr…
Cs2CuCl4 is known to possess a quantum spin liquid phase with antiferromagnetic interaction below 2.8 K. We report the observation of a new metastable magnetic phase of the triangular frustrated quantum spin system Cs2CuCl4 induced by the application of hydrostatic pressure. We measured the magnetic properties of Cs2CuCl4 following the application and release of pressure after 3 days. We observed a previously unknown ordered magnetic phase with a transition temperature of 9 K. Furthermore, the recovered sample with new magnetic ground state possesses an equivalent crystal structure to the unco…
We study the dynamical response of frustrated, quasi-one-dimensional spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnets at finite temperatures. We allow for the presence of a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. We concentrate on a model of weakly coupled planes of anisotropic triangular lattices. Combining exact results for the dynamical response of one dimensional Heisenberg chains with a Random Phase Approximation (RPA) in the frustrated interchain couplings, we calculate the dynamical susceptibility in the disordered phase. We investigate the instability of the disordered phase to the formation of collect…
Magnetic excitations in the triangular-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet (TLHA) CuCrO2 were studied using single-crystal inelastic neutron scattering. A diffusive quasielastic component that persisted without developing a correlation length over a wide temperature range both below and above the ordering temperature was observed. Furthermore, characteristic momentum dependence was observed that was reproduced using minimum spin clusters. The robust spin clusters contrast with conventional magnetic ordering and may be universal in TLHAs.
We perform a comprehensive analysis of the bimagnon resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) intensity spectra of the spatially frustrated Jx-Jy-J2 Heisenberg model on a square lattice in both the antiferromagnetic and the collinear antiferromagnetic phase. We study the model for strong frustration and significant spatial anisotropy to highlight the key signatures of RIXS spectrum splitting which may be experimentally discernible. Based on an interacting spin wave theory study within the ladder approximation Bethe-Salpeter scheme, we find the appearance of a robust two-peak structure over a …
Lattice-coupled antiferromagnetic spin model is analyzed for a number of frustrated lattices: triangular, Kagome, and pyrochlore. In triangular and Kagome lattices where ground state spins are locally ordered, the spin-lattice interaction does not lead to a static deformation of the lattice. In the pyrochlore structure, spin-lattice coupling supports a picture of the hexagon spin cluster proposed in the recent experiment[S. H. Lee et al. Nature, 418, 856 (2002)]. Through spin-lattice interaction a uniform contraction of the individual hexagons in the pyrochlore lattice can take place and reduc…
X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) enables us to study dynamics of antiferromagnets. Using coherent soft X-ray diffraction, we resonantly probe Mn and Co Bragg peaks in the frustrated magnetic chain compound Lu2CoMnO6 significantly below the Neel temperature. Bragg peaks of incommensurate order slide towards commensurate 'up up down down' order with decreasing temperature. Antiferromagnetic inhomogeneities produce speckle within the Bragg peaks, whose dynamics are probed by XPCS and compared to the classic Axial Next-Nearest Neighbor Interaction model of frustration. The data support…
We present inelastic neutron scattering and thermodynamic measurements characterizing the magnetic excitations in a disordered non-magnetic substituted spin-liquid antiferromagnet. The parent compound Ba3Mn2O8 is a dimerized, quasi-two-dimensional geometrically frustrated quantum disordered antiferromagnet. We substitute this compound with non-magnetic vanadium for the S = 1 manganese atoms, Ba3(Mn1-xVx)2O8, and find that the singlet-triplet excitations which dominate the spectrum of the parent compound persist for the full range of substitution examined, x = 0.02 to 0.3. We also observe addit…
We study field induced quantum phase in weakly-coupled ferromagnetic frustrated chain LiCuVO$_4$ by neutron diffraction technique. A new incommensurate magnetic peak is observed at $H \ge 8.5$ T. The field dependent propagation vector is identified with the spin density wave correlation in the theoretically predicted magnetic quadrupole order. Quantum fluctuation, geometrical frustration, and interchain interaction induce the exotic spin density wave long-range order in the insulating magnet.
We study the frustrated ferromagnetic spin-1 chains, where the ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor coupling competes with the antiferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbor coupling. We use the density matrix renormalization group to obtain the ground states. Through the analysis of spin-spin correlations we identify the double Haldane phase as well as the ferromagnetic phase. It is shown that the ferromagnetic coupling leads to incommensurate correlations in the double Haldane phase. Such short-range correlations transform continuously into the ferromagnetic instability at the transition to the ferromagn…
We report on recent results for strongly frustrated quantum $J_1$-$J_2$ antiferromagnets in dimensionality d=1,2,3 obtained by the coupled cluster method (CCM). We demonstrate that the CCM in high orders of approximation allows us to investigate quantum phase transitions driven by frustration and to discuss novel quantum ground states. In detail we consider the ground-state properties of (i) the Heisenberg spin-1/2 antiferromagnet on the cubic lattice in d=1,2,3, and use the results for the energy, the sublattice magnetization and the spin stiffness as a benchmark test for the precision of the…
Quantum corrections of the biquadratic interaction in the 1D spin-1/2 frustrated ferromagnetic Heisenberg model are studied. The biquadratic interaction for spin-1/2 chains is eliminated and transformed to the quadratic interaction. Doing a numerical experiment, new insight as to how the classical phases get modified on the inclusion of quantum fluctuations is provided. Observed results suggest the existence of an intermediate region in the ground state phase diagram of the frustrated ferromagnetic spin-1/2 chains with combination of dimer and chiral orders. In addition, from the quantum entan…
Based on exact diagonalization data for finite quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnets on two frustrated lattices (two-leg ladder and bilayer) and analytical arguments we map low-energy degrees of freedom of the spin models in a magnetic field on classical lattice-gas models. Further we use transfer-matrix calculations and classical Monte Carlo simulations to give a quantitative description of low-temperature thermodynamics of the quantum spin models. The classical lattice-gas model yields an excellent description of the quantum spin models up to quite large temperatures. The main peculiarity of t…
The confinement of a spinon liberated by doping two-dimensional frustrated quantum antiferromagnets with a non-magnetic impurity or a mobile hole is investigated. For a static vacancy, an intermediate behavior between complete deconfinement (kagome) and strong confinement (checkerboard) is identified in the J_1{-}J_2{-}J_3 model on the square lattice, with the emergence of two length scales, a spinon confinement length larger than the magnetic correlation length. For mobile holes, this translates into an extended spinon-holon boundstate allowing one to bridge momentum (ARPES spectral function)…
Two-leg spin-1/2 ladder systems consisting of a ferromagnetic leg and an antiferromagnetic leg are considered where the spins on the legs interact through antiferromagnetic rung couplings $J_1$. These ladders can have two geometrical arrangements either zigzag or normal ladder and these systems are frustrated irrespective of their geometry. This frustration gives rise to incommensurate spin density wave, dimer and spin fluid phases in the ground state. The magnetization in the systems decreases linearly with $J^2_1$, and the systems show an incommensurate phase for $0.0<J_1<1.0$. The spin-spin…
$^7$Li and $^{29}$Si NMR, $μ$SR and magnetization measurements in Li$_2$V$_{1-x}$OTi$_x$SiO$_4$, for $0 \leq x \leq 0.2$, are presented. The $x=0$ compound is a prototype of frustrated two-dimensional Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a square-lattice with competing nearest ($J_1$) and next-nearest ($J_2$) neighbour exchange interactions. Ti$^{4+}$ (S=0) for V$^{4+}$ (S=1/2) substitution yields the spin dilution of the antiferromagnetic layers. The analysis of the magnetization and of the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate shows that spin dilution not only reduces the spin-stiffness by a factor …
We discover a new type of multiple-$q$ state, "ripple state", in a frustrated honeycomb-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet under magnetic fields. The ground state has an infinite ring-like degeneracy in the wavevector space, exhibiting a cooperative paramagnetic state, "ring-liquid" state. We elucidate that the system exhibits the ripple state as a new low-temperature thermodynamic phase via a second-order phase transition from the ring-liquid state, keeping the ring-like spin structure factor. The spin texture in real space looks like a "water ripple" and can induce a giant electric polarizat…
We consider the antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 $XXZ$ Heisenberg model on a frustrated diamond-chain lattice in a $z$- or $x$-aligned external magnetic field. We use the strong-coupling approach to elaborate an effective description in the low-temperature strong-field regime. The obtained effective models are spin-1/2 $XY$ chains which are exactly solvable through the Jordan-Wigner fermionization. We perform exact-diagonalization studies of the magnetization curves to test the quality of the effective description. The results may have relevance for the description of the azurite spin-chain compound…
We report magnetization and specific heat measurements in the 2D frustrated spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet Cs2CuCl4 at temperatures down to 0.05 K and high magnetic fields up to 11.5 T applied along a, b and c-axes. The low-field susceptibility chi (T) M/B shows a broad maximum around 2.8 K characteristic of short-range antiferromagnetic correlations and the overall temperature dependence is well described by high temperature series expansion calculations for the partially frustrated triangular lattice with J=4.46 K and J'/J=1/3. At much lower temperatures (< 0.4 K) and in in-plane field …
The spin-1/2 J1-J2 antiferromagnet is a prototypical model for frustrated magnetism and one possible candidate for a realization of a spin liquid phase. The generalization of this system on the anisotropic square lattice is given by the J1-J2-J1'-J2' Heisenberg model, which can be treated by a renormalization group (RG) analysis of coupled frustrated chains. The J1-J2-J1'-J2'-model shows an interesting interplay of Néel order, dimerization, and spin liquid behavior. The analytical findings supported by numerical results indicate that for the isotropic model the phase at intermediate coupling s…
We present microscopic and macroscopic magnetic properties of the highly frustrated antiferromagnet Ba$_{2}$Sn$_{2}$ZnCr$_{7p}$Ga$_{10-7p}$O$_{22}$, respectively probed with NMR and SQUID experiments. The $T$-variation of the intrinsic susceptibility of the Cr$^{3+}$ frustrated kagomé bilayer, $χ_{kag}$, displays a maximum around 45 K. The dilution of the magnetic lattice has been studied in detail for $0.29 \leq p \leq0.97$. Novel dilution independent defects, likely related with magnetic bond disorder, are evidenced and discussed. We compare our results to SrCr$_{9p}$Ga$_{12-9p}$O$_{19}$. Bo…
We review the mechanism of spin-lattice coupling in relieving the geometrical frustration of pyrochlore antiferromagnets, in particular spinel oxides. The tetrahedral unit, which is the building block of the pyrochlore lattice, undergoes a spin-driven Jahn-Teller instability when lattice degrees of freedom are coupled to the antiferromagnetism. By restricting our considerations to distortions which preserve the translational symmetries of the lattice, we present a general theory of the collective spin-Jahn-Teller effect in the pyrochlore lattice. One of the predicted lattice distortions breaks…
Recently it was argued that quantum phase transitions can be radically different from classical phase transitions with as a highlight the 'deconfined critical points' exhibiting fractionalization of quantum numbers due to Berry phase effects. Such transitions are supposed to occur in frustrated ('$J_1$-$J_2$') quantum magnets. We have developed a novel renormalization approach for such systems which is fully respecting the underlying lattice structure. According to our findings, another profound phenomenon is around the corner: a fluctuation induced (order-out-of-disorder) first order transiti…
We consider the effects of local impurities in highly frustrated diamond lattice antiferromagnets, which exhibit large but non-extensive ground state degeneracies. Such models are appropriate to many A-site magnetic spinels. We argue very generally that sufficiently dilute impurities induce an ordered magnetic ground state, and provide a mechanism of degeneracy breaking. The states which are selected can be determined by a "swiss cheese model" analysis, which we demonstrate numerically for a particular impurity model in this case. Moreover, we present criteria for estimating the stability of t…
The results of extensive histogram cluster heat-bath Monte Carlo simulations on the critical behavior of the quasi-one dimensional Ising antiferromagnet on a stacked triangular lattice are presented. A small applied field is shown to induce a crossover from XY universality to mean-field tricritical behavior. Experimental estimates of critical exponents suggest that these two types of phase transitions are observed in S=1 CsNiCl$_3$ and $S=1/2$ CsCoBr$_3$, respectively. The present results demonstrate that this difference can be explained by an unusual staggered magnetic field arising from quan…
The self-consistent treatment of real and imaginary renormalizations in the dynamic spin susceptibility for the frustrated Heisenberg model reproduces for cuprates at low doping: a spin spectrum, a saddle point for q near (pi/2,pi/2), nearly constant q-integrated susceptibility for energy less than 150 meV and a scaling law. Frustration increase (optimally doped case) leads to a stripe scenario with a saddle point at q near (pi,pi/2) and $χ_{2D}(ω)$ peak near 30meV. The obtained $χ(\mathbf{q},ω)$ describes neutron scattering results and leads to well-known temperature transport anomalies in do…
