Absence of long-range order in the frustrated magnet SrDy2O4 due to trapped defects from a dimensionality crossover

N. Gauthier, A. Fennell, B. Prévost, A.-C. Uldry, B. Delley, R. Sibille, A. Désilets-Benoit, H. A. Dabkowska, G. J. Nilsen, L.-P. Regnault, J. S. White, C. Niedermayer, V. Pomjakushin, A. D. Bianchi, and M. Kenzelmann
Phys. Rev. B 95, 134430 – Published 19 April 2017

Abstract

Magnetic frustration and low dimensionality can prevent long-range magnetic order and lead to exotic correlated ground states. SrDy2O4 consists of magnetic Dy3+ ions forming magnetically frustrated zigzag chains along the c axis and shows no long-range order to temperatures as low as T=60 mK. We carried out neutron scattering and ac magnetic susceptibility measurements using powder and single crystals of SrDy2O4. Diffuse neutron scattering indicates strong one-dimensional (1D) magnetic correlations along the chain direction that can be qualitatively accounted for by the axial next-nearest-neighbor Ising model with nearest-neighbor and next-nearest-neighbor exchange J1=0.3 meV and J2=0.2 meV, respectively. Three-dimensional (3D) correlations become important below T*0.7 K. At T=60 mK, the short-range correlations are characterized by a putative propagation vector k1/2=(0,12,12). We argue that the absence of long-range order arises from the presence of slowly decaying 1D domain walls that are trapped due to 3D correlations. This stabilizes a low-temperature phase without long-range magnetic order, but with well-ordered chain segments separated by slowly moving domain walls.

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  • Received 8 February 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.95.134430

©2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

N. Gauthier1,*, A. Fennell2, B. Prévost3, A.-C. Uldry4, B. Delley4, R. Sibille2, A. Désilets-Benoit3, H. A. Dabkowska5, G. J. Nilsen6, L.-P. Regnault6, J. S. White2, C. Niedermayer2, V. Pomjakushin2, A. D. Bianchi3, and M. Kenzelmann1,†

  • 1Laboratory for Scientific Developments and Novel Materials, Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland
  • 2Laboratory for Neutron Scattering and Imaging, Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland
  • 3Département de Physique & Regroupement Québécois sur les Matériaux de Pointe (RQMP), Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec H3C 3J7, Canada
  • 4Condensed Matter Theory Group, Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland
  • 5Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4L8, Canada
  • 6Institut Laue-Langevin, CS 20156, F-38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France

  • *nicolas.gauthier4@gmail.com
  • michel.kenzelmann@psi.ch

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Issue

Vol. 95, Iss. 13 — 1 April 2017

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