Planar XY magnetic glass state in the Gd₂ScNbO₇ pyrochlore

Here a spin glass system with emergent planar ordered spin clusters is investigated. The mixed B-site pyrochlore Gd₂ScNbO₇ has been synthesized and characterized through a variety of techniques, including x-ray diffraction, magnetic susceptibility, muon spin relaxation, heat capacity and neutron scattering. Despite a Curie-Weiss temperature of −3.93(3) K, indicating net antiferromagnetic interactions, no signs of long ranged magnetic ordering are found down to T = 0.3 K. Instead, a disordered magnetic state emerges with a small correlation length of 2.1(1) Å of single tetrahedra. A Reverse Monte Carlo analysis of the polarized neutron scattering data reveals short-range antiferromagnetic order with emergent XY spin ordering similar to the parent pyrochlore compounds. Muon spin relaxation, and AC susceptibility measurements confirm that the magnetization condenses into a glass, with 10 % of the potential entropy missing in the specific heat. This magnetic ground state is similar to what is observed in Gd₂Sn₂O₇ just above the ordering temperature, without the eventual long-range ordering at low temperature.