In the triangular layered magnet PdCrO2 the intralayer magnetic interactions are strong, however the lattice structure frustrates interlayer interactions. In spite of this, long-range, 120∘ antiferromagnetic order condenses at TN=38~K. We show here through neutron scattering measurements under in-plane uniaxial stress and in-plane magnetic field that this occurs through a spontaneous lifting of the three-fold rotational symmetry of the nonmagnetic lattice, which relieves the interlayer frustration. We also show through resistivity measurements that uniaxial stress can suppress thermal magnetic disorder within the antiferromagnetic phase.
@article{arxiv.1904.11933,
title = {Magnetic frustration and spontaneous rotational symmetry breaking in PdCrO2},
author = {Dan Sun and Dmitry Sokolov and Jack Bartlett and Jhuma Sannigrahi and Seunghyun Khim and Pallavi Kushwaha and Dmitry D. Khalyavin and Pascal Manuel and Alexandra S. Gibbs and Andrew P. Mackenzie and Clifford W. Hicks},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1904.11933},
year = {2019}
}