Spin-liquid Behaviour in Sc 2 Ga 2 CuO 7 Avinash V. Mahajan IIT - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Spin-liquid Behaviour in Sc 2 Ga 2 CuO 7 Avinash V. Mahajan IIT - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Workshop on current trends in frustrated magnetism, 9-13 Feb 2015, JNU Spin-liquid Behaviour in Sc 2 Ga 2 CuO 7 Avinash V. Mahajan IIT Bombay GENERAL THEME OF OUR WORK Explore systems for novel magnetism Low dimensional, frustrated


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SLIDE 1

Spin-liquid Behaviour in Sc2Ga2CuO7

Avinash V. Mahajan IIT Bombay

Workshop on current trends in frustrated magnetism, 9-13 Feb 2015, JNU

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SLIDE 2

GENERAL THEME OF OUR WORK

  • Explore systems for novel magnetism
  • Low dimensional, frustrated magnets and spin-

liquid behaviour

  • 3d/4d/5d systems... strong spin-orbit coupling
  • Characterisation…structure, χ(T), CP(T), NMR
  • Here, I will focus on Sc2Ga2CuO7
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SLIDE 3

Magnetic Frustration

Balents, KITP

Few examples: Triangular: NiGa2S4, Ba3CuSb2O9 Kagome: ZnCu3(OH)6Cl2, SrCr9pGa12−9pO19 Hyperkagome: Na4Ir3O8 Pyrochlore: Y2Mo2O7, Ho2Ti2O7

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SLIDE 4

STRUCTURE OF Sc2Ga2CuO7

Triangular Cu planes Triangular Ga bi-planes Triangular Cu planes 14 Å

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SLIDE 5

Cu PLANE AND Ga BI-PLANE

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SLIDE 6

X-RAY AND NEUTRON DIFFRACTION (PSI)

Ò Small amts of impurities….Sc2O3~1.2 %, CuGa2O4~0.5% Ò Cu-Ga antisite disorder expected due to their similar ionic sizes. Ò Due to similar scattering lengths of Cu and Ga (in both XRD

and ND), refinements are very similar for various occupancies

Ò The (0, 0, 0.25) planes are nearly fully Ga (10-15% Cu). The

biplanes are an equal mix.

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SLIDE 7

ACTUAL STRUCTURE

Triangular Cu Ga planes Triangular Ga-Cu bi-planes Triangular Cu Ga planes 14 Å

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SLIDE 8

MAGNETIC SUSCEPTIBILITY

100 200 300 400 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0

Z F C ¡C urie-­‑Weis s ¡F it

¡

χ (10-­‑2 ¡cm3/mol)

T (K )

1 10 100 0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03

¡Z F C

¡F C

χ (cm3/mol)

T (K ) H= ¡25 ¡Oe

2 4 6 8 10 12

(χ−χ0)

−1

¡

(χ−χ

χ−χ0)-­‑1(102 ¡m ol/C m 3)

H ¡= ¡5 ¡kO e

µeff = 1.79 µB θ ~ -50 K No ZFC/FC bifurcation

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SLIDE 9

MAGNETISATION ISOTHERMS

200 400 600 800 1000

¡ ¡ ¡

¡1.8K ¡2.5K ¡3.0K ¡3.6K ¡4.5K ¡ ¡F IT ¡

M ¡(G ¡cm

3/mol)

g=2.0 (a)

¡ ¡ ¡ ¡

(b)

¡1.8K ¡2.5K 3.0K ¡3.6K ¡4.5K ¡ ¡F IT

g=2.1

20 40 60 80 200 400 600 800 1000

¡ ¡ ¡

(c)

¡1.8K ¡2.5K ¡3.0K ¡3.6K ¡4.5K ¡ ¡F IT

¡g=2.2

H (kO e)

20 40 60 80

¡ ¡ ¡ ¡

(d)

¡1.8K ¡2.5K ¡3.0K ¡3.6K ¡4.5K ¡ ¡F IT

g=2.3

M (H, T) = χH + Brillouin fcn consistent with about 12% free spins

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SLIDE 10

71Ga NMR (AMES LAB)

NMR susceptibility shows a broad max around 50 K Above 30K consistent with HTSE of triangular Heisenberg Two Ga lines originate from the Ga in the two planes

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SLIDE 11

71Ga AND 45Sc SPIN-LATTICE RELAXATION RATE

1/T1 α T3.2 1/KT1T α A Γ/(Γ2 + ωN

2)

Γ is the inverse of the correlation time of fluctuating hyperfine fields at the nucleus

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SLIDE 12

Slowing down of fluctuation frequency of Cu spins

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SLIDE 13

HEAT CAPACITY (MPICPfS DRESDEN)

1 10 100 0.01 0.1 1 10 100

10kO e

C p ¡(J /mol ¡K ) T (K )

0kO e 40kO e 70kO e 90kO e 120kO e 140kO e

Schottky anomaly Schottky + Lattice + “intrinsic”

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SLIDE 14

ANALYSIS OF HEAT CAPACITY

Ò Subtract data at different fields from each other (removes the

lattice and any field independent contribution)

Ò Fit such data to a combination of two Schottky terms Ò Obtain (i) the Schottky gap for various fields and the (ii) fraction

  • f spins which contribute (fixed to 10% in our case)

Ò Fit high-T data to a combination of Einstein and Debye terms…

extrapolate to low-T

Ò Subtract Schottky and lattice part from the measured data to

  • btain the magnetic contribution Cm.
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SLIDE 15

LATTICE HEAT CAPACITY

50 100 150 200 250 300 350 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

¡C p(T ) ¡(0 ¡O e) ¡ ¡F it ¡(20-­‑90K ) ¡ ¡F it ¡(0.35-­‑300K )

C p ¡(J /mol ¡K )

T ¡(K )

9 18 27 2 4 6 8

¡C p ¡(0 ¡O e) ¡F IT

¡ ¡

C p ¡(J /mol ¡K )

T (K )

(a)

20 40 60 80 0.0 0.4 0.8 1.2

(b)

¡ ¡

ΔS ¡(J /mol ¡K )

T (K )

1 Debye + 3 Einstein with weights 1:1:4:6 Entropy change only about 20%

  • f the value for ordered S = ½ system

Even lower at higher fields.

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SLIDE 16

MAGNETIC HEAT CAPACITY

2 4 6 0.0 0.2 0.4

0kO e 40kO e 70kO e 90kO e 120kO e 140kO e

¡ ¡

C m ¡(J /mol ¡K )

T (K )

Broad max around 2-4 K Similar max seen in other frustrated systems NiGa2S4, Na4Ir3O8, Ba3CuSb2O9, Ba3NiSb2O9

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SLIDE 17

POWER LAW BEHAVIOUR

1 10 0.010 0.100 ¡0kO e ¡40kO e ¡70kO e ¡90kO e 120kO e 140kO e

¡ ¡

C m ¡(J /mol ¡K )

T (K )

(b)

1.9 1.9 1.5 1.0

0.31 0.92

1.5

Note that in high field data below 1K There is negligible Schottky as also lattice contribution. Exponent is more robust. In any case, there is a field induced suppression of Cm at low-T.

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SLIDE 18

Conclusion

§ Sc2Ga2CuO7 has “triangular” Cu planes with some Ga/Cu disorder § Large Curie-Weiss θ = -50K but no ordering/freezing down to 50mK § NMR susceptibility follows HTSE for a Heisenberg triangular system with J ~ 40 K § Slowing down of Cu spin fluctuations below 2 K as T2.2 § Magnetic heat capacity follows power law (T2) at low-T for H > 90 kOe § Field induced suppression of the magnetic excitations at low-T at lower fields § We suggest a quantum spin liquid ground state for Sc2Ga2CuO7

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SLIDE 19

Collaboration and Funding

IIT Bombay:Ramender Kumar, B. Koteswararao

MPICPfS Dresden: P. Khuntia, M. Baenitz Ames Lab ISU: P. Khuntia, Yuji Furukawa EPFL/PSI: P. Freeman, H. Ronnow, Denis Sheptyakov

Indian Institute of Technology Bombay Department of Science and Technology, India Indo-Swiss Joint Research Programme