Incipient ferromagnetism in Tb2Ge2O7: application of chemical pressure to the enigmatic spin-liquid compound Tb2Ti2O7.

After nearly 20 years of study, the origin of the spin-liquid state in Tb2Ti2O7 remains a challenge for experimentalists and theorists alike. To improve our understanding of the exotic magnetism in Tb2Ti2O7, we synthesize a chemical pressure analog: Tb2Ge2O7. Substitution of titanium by germanium results in a lattice contraction and enhanced exchange interactions. We characterize the magnetic ground state of Tb2Ge2O7 with specific heat, ac and dc magnetic susceptibility, and polarized neutron scattering measurements. Akin to Tb2Ti2O7, there is no long-range order in Tb2Ge2O7 down to 20 mK. The Weiss temperature of -19.2(1) K, which is more negative than that of Tb2Ti2O7, supports the picture of stronger antiferromagnetic exchange. Polarized neutron scattering of Tb2Ge2O7 reveals that liquidlike correlations dominate in this system at 3.5 K. However, below 1 K, the liquidlike correlations give way to intense short-range ferromagnetic correlations with a length scale similar to the Tb-Tb nearest neighbor distance. Despite stronger antiferromagnetic exchange, the ground state of Tb2Ge2O7 has ferromagnetic character, in stark contrast to the pressure-induced antiferromagnetic order observed in Tb2Ti2O7.

Phase diagram and magnetic structures of the Co-bearing dugganites Pb3TeCo3A2O14 (A = V, P).

Exhibiting rich magnetic behaviour and potentially multiferroic properties, the dugganites, a Te(6+) containing subgroup of the langasite series, are an attractive family of compounds for future study. It was recently shown that Pb-bearing members of the dugganite series undergo distortions away from the P321 symmetry that is characteristic of the langasites. Here, we detail the consequences these distortions have on the magnetism exhibited by Pb3TeCo3V2O14 and Pb3TeCo3P2O14, solving the magnetic structures of both compounds with respect to a new supercell. Using neutron scattering and magnetic susceptibility measurements, we show that small applied magnetic fields can seriously perturb the delicate magnetic states in both of these systems. This is further demonstrated by presenting how doping P(5+) onto the nonmagnetic V(5+) site completely changes the magnetic structure from either of the end series members. Finally, it is shown using inelastic neutron scattering and magnetic susceptibility measurements that Pb3TeCo3V2O14 can be characterized using a model for isosceles trimers, which do not exist in the previously reported P321 subcell.

Successive phase transitions and extended spin-excitation continuum in the S=1/2 triangular-lattice antiferromagnet Ba3CoSb2O9.

Using magnetic, thermal, and neutron measurements on single-crystal samples, we show that Ba3CoSb2O9 is a spin-1/2 triangular-lattice antiferromagnet with the c axis as the magnetic easy axis and two magnetic phase transitions bracketing an intermediate up-up-down phase in magnetic field applied along the c axis. A pronounced extensive neutron-scattering continuum above spin-wave excitations, observed below T(N), implies that the system is in close proximity to one of two spin-liquid states that have been predicted for a 2D triangular lattice.

High pressure route to generate magnetic monopole dimers in spin ice.

The gas of magnetic monopoles in spin ice is governed by one key parameter: the monopole chemical potential. A significant variation of this parameter could access hitherto undiscovered magnetic phenomena arising from monopole correlations, as observed in the analogous electrical Coulomb gas, like monopole dimerization, critical phase separation, or charge ordering. However, all known spin ices have values of chemical potential imposed by their structure and chemistry that place them deeply within the weakly correlated regime, where none of these interesting phenomena occur. Here we use high-pressure synthesis to create a new monopole host, Dy(2)Ge(2)O(7), with a radically altered chemical potential that stabilizes a large fraction of monopole dimers. The system is found to be ideally described by the classic Debye-Huckel-Bjerrum theory of charge correlations. We thus show how to tune the monopole chemical potential in spin ice and how to access the diverse collective properties of magnetic monopoles.

Absence of long-range magnetic ordering in the pyrochlore compound Er2Sn2O7.

The low temperature behaviour of powder Er2Sn2O7 samples has been studied by magnetic susceptibility, heat capacity, and neutron scattering experiments. We report here the absence of magnetic ordering down to 100 mK. Anomalies in the heat capacity can be accounted for through an analysis of the crystal field spectrum observed by inelastic neutron scattering spectroscopy. These new measurements on Er2Sn2O7 suggest a new lower bound for the frustration index of f = |Θ(CW)|/T(N) = 14/0.1 = 140, placing this compound into a highly frustrated regime.