Frustrated magnetism of the spin-1 kagome antiferromagnet β-BaNi3(VO4)2(OH)2

Boqiang Li; Zongtang Wan; Yiru Song; Zhaohua Ma; Yuqian Zhao; Junfeng Wang; Yuesheng Li

doi:10.1088/1361-648X/acf74e

Frustrated magnetism of the spin-1 kagome antiferromagnet β-BaNi₃(VO₄)₂(OH)₂

J Phys Condens Matter. 2023 Sep 15;35(50). doi: 10.1088/1361-648X/acf74e.

Authors

Boqiang Li¹, Zongtang Wan¹, Yiru Song¹, Zhaohua Ma¹, Yuqian Zhao¹, Junfeng Wang¹, Yuesheng Li¹

Affiliation

¹ Wuhan National High Magnetic Field Center and School of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 430074 Wuhan, People's Republic of China.

PMID: 37673080
DOI: 10.1088/1361-648X/acf74e

Abstract

We propose the newly synthesizedβ-BaNi₃(VO₄)₂(OH)₂(space group:R3‾m) as a candidate for the spin-1 kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet (KHA). The compound features a uniform kagome lattice of Ni²⁺(S= 1) ions with a large interlayer distance. High-field measurements at low temperatures reveal a susceptibility local minimum at ∼9 T, resembling a 1/3 magnetization plateau as predicted by the pureS= 1 KHA model. Below ∼6 K, approximately 1% of the spins exhibit spin-glass order, which may be attributed to the nanocrystalline grain size of ∼50 nm. Despite the antiferromagnetic exchange coupling strength of ∼7 K, the majority of spins remain disordered down to ∼0.1 K as indicated by the observed power-law behaviors in magnetic specific heatCm∝T1.4. Our results demonstrate that the low-energy magnetic excitations inβ-BaNi₃(VO₄)₂(OH)₂are gapless, which contradicts the current theoretical expectations of the ideal model.

Keywords: frustrated magnetism; kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet; quantum spin liquid; spin glass.