Low-temperature heat transport of the geometrically frustrated antiferromagnets R_2Ti_2O_7 (R = Gd and Er)

Abstract

We report a systematic study on the low-temperature thermal conductivity (κ) of R_2Ti_2O_7 (R = Gd and Er) single crystals with different directions of magnetic field and heat current. It is found that the magnetic excitations mainly act as phonon scatterers rather than heat carriers, although these two materials have long-range magnetic orders at low temperatures. The low-T κ(H) isotherms of both compounds show rather complicated behaviors and have good correspondences with the magnetic transitions, where the κ(H) curves show drastic dip- or step-like changes. In comparison, the field dependencies of κare more complicated in Gd_2Ti_2O_7, due to the complexity of its low-T phase diagram and field-induced magnetic transitions. These results demonstrate the significant coupling between spins and phonons in these materials and the ability of heat-transport properties probing the magnetic transitions.

9 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B

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Cited by in corpus (7)

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• Low-temperature thermal conductivity of Dy_2Ti_2O_7 and Yb_2Ti_2O_7 single crystals
• Topological thermal Hall effect for topological excitations in spin liquid: Emergent Lorentz force on the spinons
• Thermal Conductivity in the Triangular-Lattice Antiferromagnet Ba3CoSb2O9
• Low-temperature heat transport of Nd_{2-x}Ce_{x}CuO_{4} single crystals
• Absence of long-range order in an $XY$ pyrochlore antiferromagnet Er${}_2$AlSbO${}_7$
• Thermal Conductivity of the S = 1/2 Quasi-One-Dimensional Ferromagnetic Spin System CsCuCl3