Magnetic state of pyrochlore Cd2Os2O7 emerging from strong competition of ligand distortions and longer-range crystalline anisotropy

Abstract

By many-body quantum-chemical calculations, we investigate the role of two structural effects - local ligand distortions and the anisotropic Cd-ion coordination - on the magnetic state of Cd2Os2O7, a spin S=3/2 pyrochlore. We find that these effects strongly compete, rendering the magnetic interactions and ordering crucially depend on these geometrical features. Without trigonal distortions a large easy-plane magnetic anisotropy develops. Their presence, however, reverses the sign of the zero-field splitting and causes a large easy-axis anisotropy (D = -6.8 meV), which in conjunction with the antiferromagnetic exchange interaction (J = 6.4 meV) stabilizes an all-in/all-out magnetic order. The competition uncovered here is a generic feature of pyrochlore magnets.

5 pages, 3 figures, 5 pages supplementary material included, to appear in PRL

References in corpus (4)

• Crystal field splitting and correlation effect on the electronic structure of A2IrO3
• Tetrahedral Magnetic Order and the Metal-Insulator Transition in the Pyrochlore Lattice of Cd2Os2O7
• Testing the validity of the strong spin-orbit-coupling limit for octahedrally coordinated iridates in a model system Sr${}_3$CuIrO${}_6$
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