Magnetization plateaux, visible as anomalies in magnetic susceptibility at low temperatures, are one of the hallmarks of frustrated magnetism. An extremely robust half-magnetization plateau is observed in the spinel oxides CdCr2O4 and HgCr2O4, where it is accompanied by a substantial lattice distortion. We give an overview of the present state experiment for CdCr2O4 and HgCr2O4, and show how such a half-magnetization plateau arises quite naturally in a simple model of these systems, once coupling to the lattice is taken into account.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0609470,
title = {Half-magnetization plateaux in Cr spinels},
author = {Nic Shannon and Hiroaki Ueda and Yukitoshi Motome and Karlo Penc and Hiroyuki Shiba and Hidenori Takagi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0609470},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
8 pages latex using IOP macros, from review talk given at RHMF 2006 (Sendai)