Metastable states influence on the magnetic behavior of the triangular lattice: Application to the spin-chain compound Ca3Co2O6

Abstract

It is known that the spin-chain compound Ca3Co2O6 exhibits very interesting plateaus in the magnetization as a function of the magnetic field at low temperatures. The origin of them is still controversial. In this paper we study the thermal behavior of this compound with a single-flip Monte Carlo simulation on a triangular lattice and demonstrate the decisive influence of metastable states in the splitting of the ferrimagnetic 1/3 plateau below 10 K. We consider the [Co2O6]n chains as giant magnetic moments described by large Ising spins on planar clusters with open boundary conditions. With this simple frozen-moment model we obtain stepped magnetization curves which agree quite well with the experimental results for different sweeping rates. We describe particularly the out-of-equilibrium states that split the low-temperature 1/3 plateau into three steps. They relax thermally to the 1/3 plateau, which has long-range order at the equilibrium. Such states are further analyzed with snapshots unveiling a domain-wall structure that is responsible for the observed behavior of the 1/3 plateau. A comparison is also given of the exact results in small triangular clusters with our Monte Carlo results, providing further support for our thermal description of this compound.

8 pages, 11 figures, submitted to PRB

References in corpus (8)

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• Step-like magnetization in a spin-chain system: Ca3Co2O6
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Cited by in corpus (12)

• Formation of Magnetic Microphases in Ca${}_3$Co${}_2$O${}_6$
• Quantum annealing simulation of out-of-equilibrium magnetization in a spin-chain compound
• Field-driven magnetisation steps in Ca3Co2O6: A single-crystal neutron-diffraction study
• Magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of quasi-one-dimensional Ising spin chain CoV${}_2$O${}_6$
• Phase Diagram of a Diluted Triangular Lattice Ising Antiferromagnet in a Field
• Reaching the equilibrium state of frustrated triangular Ising magnet Ca3Co2O6
• Modifications in the frustrated magnetism, oxidation state of Co and magnetoelectric coupling effects induced by a partial replacement of Ca by Gd in the spin chain compound Ca3Co2O6
• Low-temperature metastable states in a stacked triangular Ising antiferromagnet
• Magnetic field-induced deformation of the spin-density wave microphases in Ca${}_3$Co${}_2$O${}_6$
• Thermodynamic and critical properties of an antiferromagnetically stacked triangular Ising antiferromagnet in a field
• Random-anisotropy mixed-spin Ising on a triangular lattice
• Novel dielectric anomalies due to spin-chains above and below Neel temperature in Ca3Co2O6