A S=1/2 vanadium-based geometrically frustrated spinel system Li2ZnV3O8

We report the synthesis and characterization of Li2ZnV3O8, which is a new Zn-doped LiV2O4 system containing only tetravalent vanadium. A Curie-Weiss susceptibility with a Curie-Weiss temperature of CW ~214 K suggests the presence of strong antiferromagnetic correlations in this system. We have observed a splitting between the zero-field cooled ZFC and field cooled FC susceptibility curves below 6 K. A peak is present in the ZFC curve around 3.5 K suggestive of spin-freezing . Similarly, a broad hump is also seen in the inferred magnetic heat capacity around 9 K. The consequent entropy change is only about 8% of the value expected for an ordered S = 1=2 system. This reduction indicates continued presence of large disorder in the system in spite of the large CW, which might result from strong geometric frustration in the system. We did not find any temperature T dependence in our 7Li nuclear magnetic resonance NMR shift down to 6 K (an abrupt change in the shift takes place below 6 K) though considerable T-dependence has been found in literature for LiV2O4- undoped or with other Zn/Ti contents. Consistent with the above observation, the 7Li nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T1 is relatively small and nearly T-independent except a small increase close to the freezing temperature, once again, small compared to undoped or 10% Zn or 20% Ti-doped LiV2O4.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, accepted in JPCM (Journal of Physics condensed matter

Frustration induced disordered magnetism in Ba3RuTi2O9

The title compound Ba3RuTi2O9 crystallizes with a hexagonal unit cell. It contains layers of edge shared triangular network of Ru4+ (S=1) ions. Magnetic susceptibility chi(T) and heat capacity data show no long range magnetic ordering down to 1.8K. A Curie-Weiss (CW) fitting of chi(T) yields a large antiferromagnetic CW temperature theta_CW=-166K. However, in low field, a splitting of zero field cooled (ZFC) and field cooled (FC) chi(T) is observed below ~30K. Our measurements suggest that Ba3RuTi2O9 is a highly frustrated system but only a small fraction of the spins in this system undergo a transition to a frozen magnetic state below ~30K.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures (accepted in EPJB

Tunable temperature induced magnetization jump in a GdVO3 single crystal

We report a novel feature of the temperature induced magnetization jump observed along the a-axis of the GdVO3 single crystal at temperature TM = 0.8 K. Below TM, the compound shows no coercivity and remanent magnetization indicating a homogenous antiferromagnetic structure. However, we will demonstrate that the magnetic state below TM is indeed history dependent and it shows up in different jumps in the magnetization only when warming the sample through TM. Such a magnetic memory effect is highly unusual and suggesting different domain arrangements in the supposedly homogenous antiferromagnetic phase of the compound.Comment: 17 pages, 8 Figure

BaV3O8: A possible Majumdar-Ghosh system with S=1/2

BaV3O8 contains both magnetic V4+(S=1/2) ions and non-magnetic V5+(S=0) ions. The V4+ ions are arranged in a coupled Majumdar-Ghosh chain like network. Our magnetic susceptibility chi(T) data fit well with the Curie-Weiss formula in the temperature range of 80-300K and it yields a Curie constant C=0.39cm3K/mole-V4+ and an antiferromagnetic Weiss temperature theta=-26K. The chi(T) curve shows a broad maximum at T~25K indicative of short-range order (SRO) and an anomaly corresponding to long-range order (LRO) at TN~6K. The value of the frustration index (f=mod[theta/TN]~5) suggests that the system is moderately frustrated. Above the LRO temperature the experimental magnetic susceptibility data match well with the coupled Majumdar-Ghosh chain model with the ratio of the nnn (next-nearest neighbor) to nn (nearest neighbor) magnetic coupling alpha=2 and Jnnn/kB=40K. In a mean-field approach when considering the inter-chain interactions, we obtain the total inter-chain coupling to be about 16K. The LRO anomaly at TN is also observe in the specific heat Cp(T) data and is not sensitive to an applied magnetic field up to 90kOe. A 51V NMR signal corresponding to the non-magnetic vanadium was observed. Anomalies at 6K were observed in the variation with temperature of the 51V NMR linewidth and in the spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T1, indicating that they are sensitive to the LRO onset and fluctuations at the magnetic V sites. The existence of two components (one short and another long) is observed in the spin-spin relaxation rate 1/T2 data in the vicinity of TN. The shorter component seems to be intimately connected with the magnetically ordered state. We suggest that both magnetically ordered and non-long range ordered (non-LRO) regions coexist in this compound below the long range ordering temperature.Comment: Accepted in Phys. Rev.

Spin liquid behaviour in Jeff=1/2 triangular lattice Ba3IrTi2O9

Ba3IrTi2O9 crystallizes in a hexagonal structure consisting of a layered triangular arrangement of Ir4+ (Jeff=1/2). Magnetic susceptibility and heat capacity data show no magnetic ordering down to 0.35K inspite of a strong magnetic coupling as evidenced by a large Curie-Weiss temperature=-130K. The magnetic heat capacity follows a power law at low temperature. Our measurements suggest that Ba3IrTi2O9 is a 5d, Ir-based (Jeff=1/2), quantum spin liquid on a 2D triangular lattice.Comment: 10 pages including supplemental material, to be published in Phys. Rev. B (Rapid Comm.