Abstract
Geometric frustration commonly occurs in materials where magnetic rare-earth ions are arranged on a two-dimensional triangular lattice. These compounds have been gaining significant attention lately, as they hold the promise of revealing unique quantum states of matter. However, little attention has been devoted to cases where spin- 12 rare-earth ions are substituted with ions exhibiting higher spin multiplicities. Here, we successfully synthesize high-quality single crystal samples of Ba3Er(BO3)3, which is part of the family of triangular lattice compounds. In our experiments, conducted at extremely low temperatures (around 100 millikelvin), we observe two sublattice exchange interactions in Ba3Er(BO3)3, resulting in the hexagonal lattice spins exhibiting a mixture of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic tendencies. Our theoretical analysis suggest that this behavior may be attributed to the distinct positions of magnetic ions within the crystal lattice. However, the presence of quantum effects adds an extra layer of complexity to our findings, calling for further exploration.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 37 |
| Journal | Communications Physics |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2024 |
Funding
Research performed at Duke University is supported by National Science Foundation Grant No. DMR-1828348 and by the DOE, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under Award No. DE-SC0023405. A portion of this research used resources at the Spallation Neutron Source, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. R.B. acknowledges the support provided by Fritz London Endowed Post-doctoral Research Fellowship at Duke University. S.H. acknowledges the support provided by William M. Fairbank chair in Physics at Duke University. C.L. acknowledges the fellowship support of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation through the Emergent Phenomena in Quantum Systems (EPiQS) program. L.B. was supported by the DOE, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under Award No. DE-FG02-08ER46524, and by the Simons Collaboration on Ultra-Quantum Matter, which is a grant from the Simons Foundation (651440). Research performed at Duke University is supported by National Science Foundation Grant No. DMR-1828348 and by the DOE, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under Award No. DE-SC0023405. A portion of this research used resources at the Spallation Neutron Source, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. R.B. acknowledges the support provided by Fritz London Endowed Post-doctoral Research Fellowship at Duke University. S.H. acknowledges the support provided by William M. Fairbank chair in Physics at Duke University. C.L. acknowledges the fellowship support of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation through the Emergent Phenomena in Quantum Systems (EPiQS) program. L.B. was supported by the DOE, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under Award No. DE-FG02-08ER46524, and by the Simons Collaboration on Ultra-Quantum Matter, which is a grant from the Simons Foundation (651440).