English

Half-magnetization plateau stabilized by structural distortion in the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on a pyrochlore lattice

Strongly Correlated Electrons 2009-11-10 v1 Materials Science

Abstract

Magnetization plateaus, visible as anomalies in magnetic susceptibility at low temperatures, are one of the hallmarks of frustrated magnetism. We show how an extremely robust half-magnetization plateau can arise from coupling between spin and lattice degrees of freedom in a pyrochlore antiferromagnet, and develop a detailed symmetry of analysis of the simplest possible scenario for such a plateau state. The application of this theory to the spinel oxides CdCr2O4 and HgCr2O4, where a robust half magnetization plateau has been observed, is discussed.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0408397,
  title  = {Half-magnetization plateau stabilized by structural distortion in the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on a pyrochlore lattice},
  author = {K. Penc and N. Shannon and H. Shiba},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0408397},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

4 pages, 4 figures