Spin-Frustrated Pyrochlore Chains in the Volcanic Mineral Kamchatkite (KCu3OCl(SO4)2)

Abstract

Search of new frustrated magnetic systems is of a significant importance for physics studying the condensed matter. The platform for geometric frustration of magnetic systems can be provided by copper oxocentric tetrahedra (OCu4) forming the base of crystalline structures of copper minerals from Tolbachik volcanos in Kamchatka. The present work was devoted to a new frustrated antiferromagnetic - kamchatkite (KCu3OCl(SO4)2). The calculation of the sign and strength of magnetic couplings in KCu3OCl(SO4)2 has been performed on the basis of structural data by the phenomenological crystal chemistry method with taking into account corrections on the Jahn-Teller orbital degeneracy of Cu2. It has been established that kamchatkite (KCu3OCl(SO4)2) contains AFM spin-frustrated chains of the pyrochlore type composed of cone-sharing Cu4 tetrahedra. Strong AFM intrachain and interchain couplings compete with each other. Frustration of magnetic couplings in tetrahedral chains is combined with the presence of electric polarization.

14 pages, 7 figures, and 2 tables. As accepted on 23 th January 2018 for publication in Physics and Chemistry of Minerals, for which see http://rdcu.be/GLyy

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Spin Triplet Ground-State in the Copper Hexamer Compounds A2Cu3O(SO4)3 (A=Na,K)
• Antiferromagnetic spin-frustrated layers of corner-sharing Cu4 tetrahedra on the kagome lattice in volcanic minerals Cu5O2(VO4)2(CuCl), NaCu5O2(SeO3)2Cl3, and K2Cu5Cl8(OH)4 2H2O
• Orthorhombic and triclinic modifications of the arsenate Cu4O(AsO4)2 and isotypic phosphates Cu4O(PO4)2: strongly frustrated antiferromagnetics
• Electrocaloric effect in the two spin-1/2 XXZ Heisenberg edge-shared tetrahedra and spin-1/2 XXZ Heisenberg octahedron with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction
• Crystal chemistry criteria of the existence of spin liquids on the kagome lattice