Single crystals of $R$Cd$_{3}$P$_{3}$ ($R$ = La and Ce) have been investigated by magnetization, electrical resistivity, Hall coefficient, and specific heat. Magnetization measurements of CeCd$_{3}$P$_{3}$ demonstrate clear quasi-2D magnetic behavior. Electrical resistivity and Hall coefficient measurements suggest that $R$Cd$_{3}$P$_{3}$ compounds are low carrier density metallic systems, in strong contrast to an earlier study of polycrystalline material. Specific heat and electrical resistivity measurements of CeCd$_{3}$P$_{3}$ reveal a high temperature (structural) phase transition at $T_{s} = 127$~K and antiferromagnetic ordering below $T_{N} = 0.41$~K. Upon applying magnetic field in the easy-plane ($H {\parallel} ab$) the magnetic ordering temperature increases to 0.43~K at $H \sim 15$~kOe, demonstrating partial lifting of the magnetic frustration. The large electronic specific heat persists in an unusually wide range of temperature above $T_{N}$, due to the frustrated spins. The observation of conventional metallic behavior in the electrical resistivity suggests that the $f$-electrons in CeCd$_{3}$P$_{3}$ undergo negligible hybridization with the conduction electrons. Thus, CeCd$_{3}$P$_{3}$ may be a model system for exploring the complex interplay between magnetic frustration and RKKY physics on a low carrier density Ce triangular lattice.
The cradle of quantum spin liquids, triangular antiferromagnets show strong proclivity to magnetic order and require deliberate tuning to stabilize a spin-liquid state. In this brief review, we juxtapose recent theoretical developments that trace the parameter regime of the spin-liquid phase, with experimental results for Co-based and Yb-based triangular antiferromagnets. Unconventional spin dynamics arising from both ordered and disordered ground states is discussed, and the notion of a geometrically perfect triangular system is scrutinized to demonstrate non-trivial imperfections that may as…
We use Schwinger boson mean field theory to study the antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 Heisenberg model on an anisotropic triangular lattice in the presence of a uniform external magnetic field. We calculate the field dependence of the spin incommensurability in the ordered spin spiral phase, and compare the results to the recent experiments in Cs$_{2}$CuCl$_{4}$ by Coldea et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 1335 (2001)).
We obtain the non-collinear ground states of a triangular-lattice antiferromagnet with exchange interactions up to third nearest neighbors as a function of the single-ion anisotropy $D$. At a critical value of $D$, the collinear $\uudd $ phase transforms into a complex non-collinear phase with odd-order harmonics of the fundamental ordering wavevector $\vQ $. The observed elastic peaks at $2π\vx -\vQ $ in both Al- and Ga- doped CuFeO$_2$ are explained by a "scalene" distortion of the triangular lattice produced by the repulsion of neighboring oxygen atoms.
We report the de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) oscillations and first-principle calculations for triangular antiferromagnet PdCrO2 showing unconventional anomalous Hall effect (AHE). The dHvA oscillations in PdCrO2 reveal presence of several 2 dimensional Fermi surfaces of smaller size than found in nonmagnetic PdCoO2. This evidences Fermi surface reconstruction due to the non-collinear 120 antiferromagnetic ordering of the localized Cr, consistent with the first principle calculations. The temperature dependence of dHvA oscillations shows no signature of additional modification of Cr spin structure …
We present the structural characterization and low-temperature magnetism of the triangular-lattice delafossite NaYbO$_2$. Synchrotron x-ray diffraction and neutron scattering exclude both structural disorder and crystal-electric-field randomness, whereas heat-capacity measurements and muon spectroscopy reveal the absence of magnetic order and persistent spin dynamics down to at least 70\,mK. Continuous magnetic excitations with the low-energy spectral weight accumulating at the $K$-point of the Brillouin zone indicate the formation of a novel spin-liquid phase in a triangular antiferromagnet. …
We report 7Li NMR studies of single crystals of triangular-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet Li7RuO6. Slow critical divergence with a wide critical region of |T/TN - 1|< 7 was observed in 7Li nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate. The slowing down of staggered spin fluctuations was analyzed in a renormalized classical region of a two-dimensional triangular-lattice non-linear sigma model. A spin stiffness constant was found to reduce to about 20 % from the value in a spin-wave approximation. The effect of spin frustration, e.g., Z2 vortex excitations on the critical phenomena is suggested.
We perform high-field magnetization measurements on the triangular lattice antiferromagnet Fe$_{1/3}$NbS$_2$. We observe a plateau in the magnetization centered at approximately half the saturation magnetization over a wide range of temperature and magnetic field. From density functional theory calculations, we determine a likely set of magnetic exchange constants. Incorporating these constants into a minimal Hamiltonian model of our material, we find that the plateau and of the $Z_3$ symmetry breaking ground state both arise from interplane and intraplane antiferromagnetic interactions acting…
CuCrO2 is a manifestation of a two-dimensional triangular antiferromagnet which exhibits an incommensurate noncollinear magnetic structure similar to a classical 120 degree ordering. Using the inelastic neutron scattering technique, direct evidence of a magnon-phonon coupling in CuCrO2 is revealed via the mixed magnon-phonon character of the excitation mode at 12.5 meV as well as a minimum at the zone boundary. A simple model Hamiltonian that incorporates an exchange striction type magnon-phonon coupling reproduces the observed features accurately. Also, continuum excitations originating from …
Coupling between spin and lattice degrees of freedom are important in geometrically frustrated magnets where they can lead to degeneracy lifting and novel orders. We show that moderate spin-lattice couplings in triangular and Kagome antiferromagnets can induce complex colinear magnetic orders. When classical Heisenberg spins on the triangular lattice are coupled to Einstein phonons, a rich variety of phases emerge, including the experimentally observed four sublattice state and the five sublattice 1/5th plateau state seen in the magneto-electric material CuFeO$_2$. In addition we predict magne…
The spin wave excitations of the geometrically frustrated triangular lattice antiferromagnet (TLA) $\rm CuFeO_2$ have been measured using high resolution inelastic neutron scattering. Antiferromagnetic interactions up to third nearest neighbors in the ab plane (J_1, J_2, J_3, with $J_2/J_1 \approx 0.44$ and $J_3/J_1 \approx 0.57$), as well as out-of-plane coupling (J_z, with $J_z/J_1 \approx 0.29$) are required to describe the spin wave dispersion relations, indicating a three dimensional character of the magnetic interactions. Two energy dips in the spin wave dispersion occur at the incommens…
We investigate the $S=1/2$ quantum spin antiferromagnets on the triangular and Kagome lattices in magnetic field, using the numerical exact diagonalization. Particularly we focus on an anomalous magnetization behavior of each system at 1/3 of the saturation magnetization. The critical exponent analyses suggest that it is a conventional magnetization plateau on the triangular lattice, while an unconventional phenomenon, called the magnetization ramp, on the Kagome lattice.
A brief review is provided of earlier work on the low temperature phases of $S=1$ kagome and triangular lattice antiferromagnets in which there is sufficiently strongly single-ion anisotropy $D$ that dominates over the antiferromagnetic exchange $J$.
We report on the emergence of antiferromagnetic spin chains from two-dimensionally aligned spins on the anisotropic triangular lattice (ATL) in the insulating calcium rhenium oxychloride Ca3ReO5Cl2. The compound contains Re6+ ions each with one unpaired electron in the dxy orbital, which are arranged to form a spin-1/2 ATL with J'/J ~ 0.32 and J = 41 K, where J and J' are magnetic interactions in and between the chains, respectively. In spite of the apparent two dimensionality, we observe clear evidence of a gapless spin liquid that is characteristic of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain. This one-…
This work examines the critical anisotropy required for the local stability of the collinear ground states of a geometrically-frustrated triangular-lattice antiferromagnet (TLA). Using a Holstein-Primakoff expansion, we calculate the spin-wave frequencies for the 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8-sublattice (SL) ground states of a TLA with up to third neighbor interactions. Local stability requires that all spin-wave frequencies are real and positive. The 2, 4, and 8-SL phases break up into several regions where the critical anisotropy is a different function of the exchange parameters. We find that the criti…
We report the magnetic and electric properties of Ba$_3$NiNb$_2$O$_9$, which is a quasi-two-dimensional spin-1 triangular lattice antiferromagnet (TLAF) with trigonal structure. At low $T$ and with increasing magnetic field, the system evolves from a 120 degree magnetic ordering phase (A phase) to an up-up-down ($uud$) phase (B phase) with a change of slope at 1/3 of the saturation magnetization, and then to an "oblique" phase (C phase). Accordingly, the ferroelectricity switches on at each phase boundary with appearance of spontaneous polarization. Therefore, Ba$_3$NiNb$_2$O$_9$ is a unique T…
In this Letter, we report the results of ESR measurements in high magnetic fields up to about 53 T on single crystals of NiGa2S4 to clarify the spin dynamics in more detail. We have found that the dynamics of Z2 vortices affects the temperature dependence of the ESR absorption linewidth and the frequency dependence of the ESR resonance fields at 1.3 K is well explained by a conventional spin wave theory. These results suggest an occurrence of Z2 vortex-induced topological transition.
We apply the coupled cluster method and exact diagonalzation to study the uniform susceptibility and the ground-state magnetization curve of the triangular-lattice spin-1 Heisenberg antiferromagnet. Comparing our theoretical data for the magnetization curve with recent measurements on the s=1 triangular lattice antiferromagnet Ba3NiSb2O9 we find a very good agreement.
The magnetic ground state and the crystalline electric field level scheme of the triangular lattice antiferromagnet KCeO$_2$ are investigated. Below $T_N =$ 300 mK, KCeO$_2$ develops signatures of magnetic order in specific heat measurements and low energy inelastic neutron scattering data. Trivalent Ce$^{3+}$ ions in the $D_{3d}$ local environment of this compound exhibit large splittings among the lowest three $4f^1$ Kramers doublets defining for the free ion the $J = 5/2$ sextet and a ground state doublet with dipole character, consistent with recent theoretical predictions in M. S. Eldeeb …
Yb- and Ce-based delafossites were recently identified as effective spin-1/2 antiferromagnets on the triangular lattice. Several Yb-based systems, such as NaYbO2, NaYbS2, and NaYbSe2, exhibit no long-range order down to the lowest measured temperatures and therefore serve as putative candidates for the realization of a quantum spin liquid. However, their isostructural Ce-based counterpart KCeS2 exhibits magnetic order below TN = 400 mK, which was so far identified only in thermodynamic measurements. Here we reveal the magnetic structure of this long-range ordered phase using magnetic neutron d…
The ground state of the spin-$1/2$ Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a distorted triangular lattice is studied using a numerical-diagonalization method. The network of interactions is the $\sqrt{3}\times\sqrt{3}$ type; the interactions are continuously controlled between the undistorted triangular lattice and the dice lattice. We find new states between the nonmagnetic 120-degree-structured state of the undistorted triangular case and the up-up-down state of the dice case. The intermediate states show spontaneous magnetizations that are smaller than one third of the saturated magntization correspo…
We report the single-crystal growth and the fundamental magnetic and thermodynamic properties of a rare-earth triangular lattice antiferromagnet CeCd$_3$As$_3$. In this rare-earth antiferromagnet, the Ce local moments form a perfect triangular lattice. Due to the spin-orbital-entangled nature of the Ce local moments, the compound exhibits extremely anisotropic antiferromagnetic couplings along the c direction and in the ab plane respectively. We show that CeCd$_3$As$_3$ represents a {\it rare} experimental realization of an antiferromagnetic Ising model on a two dimensional triangular lattice …
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.
We report magnetization, specific heat, muon spin rotation and Na NMR measurements on the S=3/2 rhombohedrally stacked Heisenberg antiferromagnet NaCrO2. This compound appears to be an ideal candidate for the study of triangular Heisenberg antiferromagnets with very weak interlayer coupling. While specific heat and magnetization measurements indicate the occurrence of a transition in the range 40-46 K, both muon spin rotation and NMR reveal a fluctuating regime extending well below T_c, with a peak of relaxation rate 1/T1 around 30 K. This novel finding is discussed within the context of excit…
Using elastic and inelastic neutron scattering techniques, we show that upon cooling a spatially anisotropic triangular antiferromagnet Ag$_2$MnO$_2$ freezes below $T_f ~\sim 50$ K into short range collinear state. The static spin correlations are extremely two-dimensional, and the spin fluctuations are gapless with two characteristic relaxation rates that behave linearly with temperature.
Ag2CrO2 is an S=3/2 frustrated triangular lattice antiferromagnet without orbital degree of freedom. With decreasing temperature, a 4-sublatice spin state develops. However, a long-range partially disordered state with 5 sublattices abruptly appears at TN=24 K, accompanied by a structural distortion, and persists at least down to 2 K. The spin-lattice coupling stabilizes the anomalous state, which is expected to appear only in limited ranges of further-neighbor interactions and temperature. It was found that the spin-lattice coupling is a common feature in triangular lattice antiferromagnets w…
CuCrS2 is a triangular lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet with a rhombohedral crystal structure. We report on neutron and synchrotron powder diffraction results which reveal a monoclinic lattice distortion at the magnetic transition and verify a magnetoelastic coupling. CuCrS2 is therefore an interesting material to study the influence of magnetism on the relief of geometrical frustration.
The incommensurate spin fluctuation of the doped triangular antiferromagnet is studied within the t-J model. It is shown that the commensurate peak near the half-filling is split into six incommensurate peaks in the underdoped and optimally doped regimes. The incommensurability increases with the hole concentration at lower dopings, and saturates at higher dopings. Although the incommensurability is almost energy independent, the weight of these incommensurate peaks decreases with energy and temperature.
Frustrated Ising magnets host exotic excitations, such as magnetic monopoles in spin ice. The ground state (GS) in this case is characterized by an extensive degeneracy and associated residual entropy going back to the pioneering work by G. Wannier who established large residual entropy of nearly 50%Rln2 per mole spins in a triangular Ising antiferromagnet (TIAF) already in 1950. Here, we endeavor to verify this result experimentally using TmMgGaO4, a novel rare-earth-based frustrated antiferromagnet with Ising spins arranged on a perfect triangular lattice. Contrary to theoretical expectation…
Motivated by multiple possible physical realizations, we study the SU(4) quantum antiferromagnet with a fundamental representation on each site of the triangular lattice. We provide evidence for a gapless liquid ground state of this system with an emergent Fermi surface of fractionalized fermionic partons coupled with a U(1) gauge field. Our conclusions are based on numerical simulations using the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) method, which we support with a field theory analysis.
We report the results of magnetization and specific heat measurements on Ba$_3$CoSb$_2$O$_9$, in which the magnetic Co$^{2+}$ ion has a fictitious spin-1/2, and show evidence that a spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a regular triangular lattice is actually realized in Ba$_3$CoSb$_2$O$_9$. We found that the entire magnetization curve including the one-third quantum magnetization plateau is in excellent agreement with theoretical calculations at a quantitative level.
We investigate the two-magnon Raman scattering from an anisotropic S=1/2 triangular Heisenberg antiferromagnet Cs2CuCl4. We find that the Raman response is very sensitive to magnon-magnon interactions and to scattering geometries, a feature that is in remarkable contrast with the polarization-independent Raman signal from the isotropic triangular Heisenberg antiferromagnet. Since a spin-liquid ground state gives rise to a similar rotationally invariant Raman response, our results on the polarization dependence of the scattering spectrum suggest that Raman spectroscopy provides a useful probe, …
Antiferromagnetically coupled moments on the frustrated triangular lattice typically order in a coplanar state at low temperature. Here, we demonstrate that the presence of not-very-large easy axis single ion anisotropy leads to an interesting orientationally ordered collinear state in triangular lattice antiferromagnets with moments $S \ge 3/2$. This ordered state breaks the symmetry of $π/3$ rotations about a lattice site, while leaving intact the translational symmetry of the lattice.
The $S=1/2$ kagome- and triangular-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnets are investigated using the numerical exact diagonalization and the finite-size scaling analysis. The behaviour of the field derivative at zero magnetization is examined for both systems. The present result indicates that the spin excitation is gapless for each system.
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.
Within the framework of the fermion-spin theory based on the charge-spin separation, the charge dynamics of the doped antiferromagnet on a triangular lattice is studied. The holon part is treated by using the loop expansion to the second order. It is shown that the charge dynamics is mainly caused by charged holons moving in the background of spinon excitations. The optical conductivity spectrum shows an unusual behavior at low energies and an anomalous midinfrared band, while the resistivity exhibits a nonlinearity in temperatures.
We investigate the influence of the spin-phonon coupling in the triangular antiferromagnet where the coupling is of the exchange-striction type. The magnon dispersion is shown to be modified significantly at wave vector (2pi,0) and its symmetry-related points, exhibiting a roton-like minimum and an eventual instability in the dispersion. Various correlation functions such as equal-time phonon correlation, spin-spin correlation, and local magnetization are calculated in the presence of the coupling.
The spin liquid state of the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on a triangular lattice is studied within the self-consistent Green's function method. It is shown that the spin excitation spectra is gapless, and ground-state energy per site is $E_{g}/NJ=-0.966$, which is in very good agreement with the results obtained within the variational Monte Carlo method based on the resonating-valence-bond state. Some thermodynamic properties are also discussed.
The spectral properties of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on an anisotropic triangular lattice in a magnetic field are investigated using a weak-interchain-coupling approach combined with exact solutions of a chain. Dominant modes induced by interchain interactions in a magnetic field behave as quasiparticles which show distinctive features such as anomalous incommensurate ordering and high-energy modes. In terms of them, various unusual features observed in the anisotropic triangular antiferromagnet Cs_2CuCl_4 in a magnetic field are quantitatively explained in a unified manner.
We show that the motion of a single hole in the infinite $U$ Hubbard model with frustrated hopping leads to weak metallic antiferromagnetism of kinetic origin. An intimate relationship is demonstrated between the simplest versions of this problem in 1 and 2 dimensions, and two of the most subtle many body problems, namely the Heisenberg Bethe ring in 1-d and the 2-dimensional triangular lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet.
We study the anomalous Hall effect on the antiferromagnetic coloring-triangular lattice with a coplanar magnetic configuration in presence of a spin-orbit interaction. The effect of the spin-orbit coupling is included at effective level as a rotation of the electronic spin as the electrons hop from site to site. Our result reveals that a finite Hall conductivity in the planar 120$^{\circ}$ structure takes place if a finite spin-orbit coupling is present. A quantized Hall conductivity occurs at global band gaps resulting from the topologically non-trivial band structure.
Ordering of the frustrated classical Heisenberg model on the triangular-lattice with an incommensurate spiral spin structure is studied under magnetic fields by means of a mean-field analysis and a Monte Carlo simulation. Several types of multiple-q states including the "skyrmion-lattice" state is observed in addition to the standard single-q state. In contrast to the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction driven system, the present model allows both skyrmions and anti-skyrmions, together with a new thermodynamic phase where skyrmion and anti-skyrmion lattices form a domain state.
Comprehensive experimental studies by magnetic, thermal and neutron measurements have clarified that Rb4Mn(MoO4)3 is a model system of a quasi-2D triangular Heisenberg antiferromagnet with an easy-axis anisotropy, exhibiting successive transitions across an intermediate collinear phase. As a rare case for geometrically frustrated magnetism, quantitative agreement between experiment and theory is found for complete, anisotropic phase diagrams as well as magnetic properties.
We elucidate the role of magnon interaction and spontaneous decays in the spin dynamics of the triangular-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet by calculating its dynamical structure factor within the spin-wave theory. Explicit theoretical results for neutron-scattering intensity are provided for spins S=1/2 and S=3/2. The dynamical structure factor exhibits unconventional features such as quasiparticle peaks broadened by decays, non-Lorentzian lineshapes, and significant spectral weight redistribution to the two-magnon continuum. This rich excitation spectrum illustrates the complexity of the tr…
A linear spin-wave approach, a variational method and exact diagonlization are used to investigate the magnetic long-range order (LRO) of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a two-dimensional 1/7-depleted triangular (maple leaf) lattice consisting of triangles and hexagons only. This lattice has z=5 nearest neighbors and its coordination number z is therefore between those of the triangular (z=6) and the kagome (z=4) lattices. Calculating spin-spin correlations, sublattice magnetization, spin stiffness, spin-wave velocity and spin gap we find that the classical 6-sublattice LRO is stron…
Non-collinear triangular antiferromagnets with a coplanar spin arrangement and vanishing net magnetic moment can exhibit a large anomalous Hall effect owing to their non-vanishing momentum space Berry curvature. Here we show the existence of a large field induced topological Hall effect in the non-coplanar triangular antiferromagnetic geometry of Mn3Sn. A detailed magnetic and Hall effect measurements demonstrate the presence of three distinct Hall contributions; a high temperature anomalous Hall effect, a low temperature topological Hall effect and an intermediate temperature region with coex…
The motion of a single hole in a 2D triangular antiferromagnet is investigated using the t-J model. The one-hole states are described by strings of spin deviations around the hole. Using projection technique the one-hole spectral function is calculated. For large J/t we find low-lying quasiparticle-like bands which are well separated from an incoherent background by a gap of order J. However, for small J/t this gap vanishes and the spectrum becomes broad over an energy range of several t. The results are compared with SCBA calculations and numerical data.
We report the results of magnetization and specific heat measurements on Ba$_3$NiSb$_2$O$_9$, which is a quasi-two-dimensional spin-1 triangular-lattice antiferromagnet. We observed a nonclassical magnetization plateau at one-third of the saturation magnetization that is driven by spin frustration and quantum fluctuation. Exact diagonalization for a 21-site rhombic cluster was performed to analyze the magnetization process. Experimental and calculated results agree well.
In order to study effects of frustration in an itinerant electron system, we investigate ground states of the antiferromagnetic double-exchange model on a triangular lattice. In this model, pseudo-spins are coupled to electron transfer integrals in such a way that antiparallel configurations of pseudo-spins gain kinetic energies. Although the antiferromagnetic Ising model on a triangular lattice shows macroscopic dengenerate ground states, the present model shows that the degeneracy is lifted due to long-range natures of the double exchange interactions. Spin ordering at the ground state is al…
We report the crystal structure of Ba$_2$La$_2$CoTe$_2$O$_{12}$ determined by Rietveld analysis using X-ray powder diffraction data. It was found from magnetic measurements that Ba$_2$La$_2$CoTe$_2$O$_{12}$ can be described as a spin-1\2 triangular-lattice antiferromagnet with easy-plane anisotropy at low temperatures. This compound undergoes a magnetic phase transition at $T_{\rm N}\,{=}\,3.26$ K to an ordered state with the $120^{\circ}$ structure. The magnetization curve exhibits the one-third plateau characteristic of triangular-lattice quantum antiferromagnets. The antiferromagnetic excha…
We investigate the phase diagram of the anisotropic spin-1/2 triangular lattice antiferromagnet, with interchain diagonal exchange J' much weaker than the intrachain exchange J. We find that fluctuations lead to a competition between (commensurate) collinear antiferromagnetic and (zig-zag) dimer orders. Both states differ in symmetry from the spiral order known to occur for larger J', and are therefore separated by quantum phase transitions from it. The zero-field collinear antiferromagnet is succeeded in a magnetic field by magnetically-ordered spin-density-wave and cone phases, before reachi…
Specific heat and the magnetocaloric effect are used to probe the field-induced up-up-down phase of Cs2CuBr4, a quasi-two-dimensional spin-1/2 triangular antiferromagnet with near-maximal frustration. The shape of the magnetic phase diagram shows that the phase is stabilized by quantum fluctuations, not by thermal fluctuations as in the corresponding phase of classical spins. The magnon gaps determined from the specific heat are considerably larger than those expected for a Heisenberg antiferromagnet, probably due to the presence of a small Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction.
We present a detailed magnetic study of the triangular antiferromagnet ErMgGaO$_4$. A point charge calculation under the single ion approximation reveals a crystal field ground state doublet with a strong Ising-like behavior of the Er$^{3+}$ moment along the c axis. Magnetic susceptibility and specific heat measurements indicate no presence of magnetic transitions above 0.5~K and no evidence of residual entropy as temperature approaching zero. Zero field (ZF) $μ$SR measurements shows no sign of static uniform or random field and longitudinal field (LF) $μ$SR measurements exhibit persistent spi…
Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy was performed to directly probe the low-energy (1-5 meV) electrodynamics of triangular lattice antiferromagnets CuFe1-xGaxO2 (x = 0.00, 0.01, and 0.035). We discovered an electromagnon (electric-field-active magnon) excitation at 2.3 meV in the paraelectric up-up-down-down collinear magnetic phase, while this electromagnon vanishes in the ferroelectric helimagnetic phase. Anti-correlation with noncollinear magnetism excludes the exchange-striction mechanism as the origin of dynamical magnetoelectric coupling, and hence evidences the observation of spin-orbit …
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$_2$.
The spectrum of spin fluctuations in the stacked-triangular antiferromagnet YMnO3 was studied above the Neel temperature using both unpolarized and polarized inelastic neutron scattering. We find an in-plane and an out-of-plane excitation. The in-plane mode has two components just above TN, a resolution-limited central peak and a Debye-like contribution. The quasi-elastic fluctuations have a line-width that increases with q like Dq^z and the dynamical exponent z=2.3. The out-of-plane fluctuations have a gap at the magnetic zone center and do not show any appreciable q-dependence at small wave-…
The spin-1/2 stacked triangular antiferromagnet CsCu$_{1-x}$Co$_x$Cl$_3$ with $0.015<x<0.032$ undergoes two phase transitions at zero field. The low-temperature phase is produced by the small amount of Co$^{2+}$ doping. In order to investigate the magnetic structures of the two ordered phases, the neutron elastic scattering experiments have been carried out for the sample with $x\approx 0.03$. It is found that the intermediate phase is identical to the ordered phase of CsCuCl$_3$, and that the low-temperature phase is an oblique triangular antiferromagnetic phase in which the spins form a tria…
The effect of nonmagnetic impurities on the phase diagram of the classical Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a triangular lattice is investigated. We present analytical arguments confirmed by numerical calculations that at zero temperature vacancies stabilize a conical state providing an example of "order by quenched disorder" effect. Competition between thermal fluctuations and the site disorder leads to a complicated H-T phase diagram, which is deduced from the classical Monte Carlo simulations for a representative vacancy concentration. For the XY triangular-lattice antiferromagnet with in-plan…
We present the ultralow-temperature specific heat and thermal conductivity measurements on single crystals of triangular-lattice antiferromagnet Na$_2$BaCo(PO$_4$)$_2$, which was recently argued to host itinerant fermionic excitations, like a quantum spin liquid, above its antiferromagnetic phase transition temperature $T_{\rm N}$ = 0.148 K. In specific heat measurements, we confirm the peaks due to antiferromagnetic ordering when magnetic field $μ_0 H \leq$ 1 T, roughly consistent with previous work [N. Li $et$ $al.$, Nat. Commun. 11, 4216 (2020)]. However, in thermal conductivity measurement…
Muon spin relaxation and rotation ($μ$SR) experiments on single crystals of the structurally perfect triangular antiferromagnet YbMgGaO$_4$ indicate the absence of both static long-range magnetic order and spin freezing down to 0.048 K in zero field. Below 0.4 K, the $μ^{+}$ spin relaxation rates, which are proportional to the dynamic correlation function of the Yb$^{3+}$ spins,exhibit temperature-independent plateaus. Same behavior is revealed by temperature-independent local susceptibilities extracted from the Knight shifts of the $μ^{+}$ spin rotation frequencies under a transverse field of…
