Hidden magnetic order in the triangular-lattice magnet Li2MnTeO6

E. A. Zvereva, G. V. Raganyan, T. M. Vasilchikova, V. B. Nalbandyan, D. A. Gafurov, E. L. Vavilova, K. V. Zakharov, H. J. Koo, V. Yu Pomjakushin, A. E. Susloparova, A. I. Kurbakov, A. N. Vasiliev, M. H. Whangbo

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Abstract

The manganese tellurate Li2MnTeO6 consists of trigonal spin lattices made up of Mn4+ (d3, S=3/2) ions. The magnetic properties of this compound were characterized by several experimental techniques, which include magnetic susceptibility, specific-heat, dielectric permittivity, electron-spin-resonance, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and neutron powder-diffraction measurements, and by density functional theory calculations. The magnetic susceptibility χ(T) demonstrates very unusual behavior. It is described by the Curie-Weiss law at high temperature with Curie-Weiss temperature of Θ=-74K and exhibits no obvious anomaly indicative of a long-range magnetic ordering at low magnetic fields. At high magnetic fields, however, the character of χ(T) changes showing a maximum at about 9 K. That this maximum of χ(T) reflects the onset of an antiferromagnetic order was confirmed by specific-heat measurements, which exhibit a clear λ-type anomaly at TN≈8.5K even at zero magnetic field, and by Li7 NMR and dielectric permittivity measurements. The magnetic structure of Li2MnTeO6, determined by neutron powder-diffraction measurements at 1.6 K, is described by the 120â noncollinear spin structure with the propagation vector k=(1/3,1/3,0). Consistent with this finding, the spin-exchange interactions evaluated for Li2MnTeO6 by density functional calculations are dominated by the nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic exchange within each triangular spin lattice. This spin lattice is strongly spin frustrated with f=|Θ|/TN≈8 and exhibits a two-dimensional magnetic character in a broad temperature range above TN.

Original languageEnglish
Article number094433
JournalPhysical Review B
Volume102
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2020

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© 2020 American Physical Society.

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