Abstract
We report magnetization, heat capacity, thermal expansion, and magnetostriction measurements down to millikelvin temperatures on the triangular antiferromagnet . Our data exclude the formation of the distinct plateau phase observed in other triangular antiferromagnets, but reveal plateaulike features in second derivatives of the free energy, magnetic susceptibility, and specific heat, at T for and T for . Using Monte Carlo simulations of a realistic spin Hamiltonian, we ascribe these features to nonmonotonic changes in the magnetization and the plateau that is smeared out by the random distribution of exchange couplings in .
- Received 18 June 2020
- Revised 20 August 2020
- Accepted 27 August 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.102.104433
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