Order by Quenched Disorder in the Model Triangular Antiferromagnet RbFe(MoO4)2

A. I. Smirnov, T. A. Soldatov, O. A. Petrenko, A. Takata, T. Kida, M. Hagiwara, A. Ya. Shapiro, and M. E. Zhitomirsky
Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 047204 – Published 26 July 2017
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Abstract

We observe a disappearance of the 1/3 magnetization plateau and a striking change of the magnetic configuration under a moderate doping of the model triangular antiferromagnet RbFe(MoO4)2. The reason is an effective lifting of degeneracy of mean-field ground states by a random potential of impurities, which compensates, in the low-temperature limit, the fluctuation contribution to free energy. These results provide a direct experimental confirmation of the fluctuation origin of the ground state in a real frustrated system. The change of the ground state to a least collinear configuration reveals an effective positive biquadratic exchange provided by the structural disorder. On heating, doped samples regain the structure of a pure compound, thus allowing for an investigation of the remarkable competition between thermal and structural disorder.

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  • Received 29 March 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.047204

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

A. I. Smirnov1, T. A. Soldatov1,2, O. A. Petrenko3, A. Takata4, T. Kida4, M. Hagiwara4, A. Ya. Shapiro5, and M. E. Zhitomirsky6

  • 1P. L. Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems, RAS, 119334 Moscow, Russia
  • 2Moscow Institute for Physics and Technology, 141700 Dolgoprudny, Russia
  • 3Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
  • 4Center for Advanced High Magnetic Field Science (AHMF), Osaka University, Osaka 560-0043, Japan
  • 5A. V. Shubnikov Institute for Crystallography RAS, 119333 Moscow, Russia
  • 6CEA, INAC-PHELIQS, F-38000 Grenoble, France

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Issue

Vol. 119, Iss. 4 — 28 July 2017

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