Monoclinic Li3Co2SbO6 has been proposed as a Kitaev spin liquid candidate and investigated intensively, whereas the properties of its polymorph, the orthorhombic phase, is less known. Here we report the magnetic properties of the orthorhombic Li3Co2SbO6 as revealed by dc and ac magnetic susceptibility, muon spin relaxation (μSR) and neutron diffraction measurements. Successive magnetic transitions at (115, 89 and 71) K were observed in the low field dc susceptibility measurements. The transitions below TN (= 115 K), are suppressed in higher applied fields. However, zero field, ac susceptibility measurements reveals distinct frequency independent transitions at about (114, 107, 97, 79 and 71) K. A long range magnetic ordered state was confirmed by specific heat, μSR and neutron diffraction measurements, all indicating a single transition at about 115 K. The discrepancy between different measurements is attributed to possible stacking faults and/or local disorders of the ferromagnetic zig-zag chains, resulting in ferromagnetic boundaries within the overall antiferromagnetic matrix.
@article{arxiv.2206.11466,
title = {Anomalous ferromagnetic behavior in the orthorhombic Li$_3$Co$_2$SbO$_6$},
author = {Qianhui Duan and Huanpeng Bu and Vladimir Pomjakushin and Hubertus Luetkens and Yuke Li and Jinkui Zhao and Jason S. Gardner and Hanjie Guo},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2206.11466},
year = {2022}
}