Lattice distortion effects on the frustrated spin-1 triangular-antiferromagnet A3NiN b2 O9 (A=Ba, Sr, and Ca)

Z. Lu, L. Ge, G. Wang, M. Russina, G. Günther, C. R. Dela Cruz, R. Sinclair, H. D. Zhou, J. Ma

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28 Scopus citations

Abstract

In geometrically frustrated materials with low-dimensional and small spin moment, the quantum fluctuation can interfere with the complicated interplay of the spin, electron, lattice, and orbital interactions, and host exotic ground states such as the nematic spin state and chiral liquid phase. While the quantum phases of the one-dimensional chain and S=12 two-dimensional triangular-lattice antiferromagnet (TLAF) have been more thoroughly investigated by both theorists and experimentalists, the work on the S=1 TLAF has been limited. We induced the lattice distortion into the TLAFs A3NiNb2O9 (A=Ba, Sr, and Ca) with S(Ni2+)=1, and applied thermodynamic, magnetic, and neutron scattering measurements. Although A3NiNb2O9 kept the noncollinear 120â antiferromagnetic phase as the ground state, the Ni2+ lattice changed from an equilateral triangle (A=Ba) into an isosceles triangle (A=Sr and Ca). The inelastic neutron scattering data were simulated by the linear spin-wave theory, and the competition between the single-ion anisotropy and the exchange anisotropy from the distorted lattice are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Article number094412
JournalPhysical Review B
Volume98
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 11 2018

Funding

J.M. and G.H.W. acknowledge support from National Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11774223). We are thankful for support from NSF-DMR through Grant No. DMR-1350002. Research conducted at ORNL's High Flux Isotope Reactor was sponsored by the Scientific User Facilities Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, and U.S. Department of Energy. The work is supported by the Starting-up Fund of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Shanghai, People's Republic of China) and Thousand-Youth-Talent Program of People's Republic of China.

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