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Pressure-Stabilized MnSb$_2$ with Complex Incommensurate Magnetic Order

Strongly Correlated Electrons 2026-03-11 v1 Materials Science

Abstract

Marcasite-type compounds have been proposed as promising hosts of exotic magnetic quantum states, yet experimental realizations in stoichiometric, disorder-free systems remain limited. Here, we report the high-pressure stabilization and magnetic characterization of MnSb2_2, a marcasite-type compound that is thermodynamically metastable under ambient pressure. Single crystals were synthesized using a cubic multi-anvil press, and powder and single-crystal X-ray diffraction confirm the orthorhombic PnnmPnnm structure. These crystals are stable at ambient pressure for a long time up to between 450-500 K. Heat-capacity measurements reveal phase transitions at approximately 220 K and 118 K. Neutron diffraction uncovers an unconventional magnetic ground state below 220 K. Magnetic powder neutron diffraction refinements reveal possible multiple magnetic configurations that provide comparably acceptable fits to the experimental data. While most solutions are consistent with a spin-density-wave (SDW) description, helical models systematically yield inferior agreement factors. Across a broad range of models, the Mn ordered moment reaches a maximum value of approximately 2 μB\mu_B and remains predominantly collinear, with minimal canting along the cc-axis. At 200 K, the magnetic propagation vector is qq = (0, 0.3975, 0.3783); upon cooling, the bb component increases toward 0.5, reflecting a temperature-dependent evolution of the modulation. The need for modification of the magnetic model between high and low temperatures further highlights the complex and strongly temperature-dependent nature of the magnetic order in this system. These results establish MnSb2_2 as a pressure-stabilized marcasite magnet with a highly tunable, complex magnetic ground state and a compelling stoichiometric platform for exploring unconventional magnetic behavior, including potential altermagnetism.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2603.09635,
  title  = {Pressure-Stabilized MnSb$_2$ with Complex Incommensurate Magnetic Order},
  author = {Mingyu Xu and Matt Boswell and Qing-Ping Din and Peng Cheng and Aashish Sapkota and Qiang Zhang and Danielle Yahne and Sergey. L. Bud'ko and Yuji Furukawa and Paul. C. Canfield and Raquel A. Ribeiro and Weiwei Xie},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.09635},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

34 pages,5+7figures

R2 v1 2026-07-01T11:12:30.736Z