Magnetic and Structural Properties of A-Site Ordered Chromium Spinel Sulfides: Alternating Antiferromagnetic and Ferromagnetic Interactions in the Breathing Pyrochlore Lattice

Abstract

We report a comprehensive study on the magnetic and structural properties of the spinel sulfides LiInCr4S8, LiGaCr4S8, and CuInCr4S8, where Li+/Cu+ and Ga3+/In3+ ions form a zinc-blende-type order. On the basis of synchrotron X-ray diffraction and magnetization data obtained using polycrystalline samples, these three sulfides are suggested to be breathing pyrochlore magnets with alternating antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic interactions on the small and large tetrahedra, respectively. The measured magnetization processes of the three sulfides up to 72 T are significantly different. The magnetization curves of LiInCr4S8 and CuInCr4S8 have large hysteresis loops with different shapes, while there is no hysteresis in that of LiGaCr4S8. Geometrical frustration of the small tetrahedron is likely to give rise to a wide variety of ground states, indicating the rich physics in these antiferromagnetic-ferromagnetic breathing pyrochlore magnets.

10 pages, 12 figures, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn., in press

References in corpus (10)

• Electronic band structure and exchange coupling constants in ACr2X4 spinels
• Spin-phonon coupling in antiferromagnetic chromium spinels
• One-Third Magnetization Plateau with a Preceding Novel Phase in Volborthite
• Experimental Realization of a Quantum Breathing Pyrochlore Antiferromagnet
• Novel Phase Transitions in the Breathing Pyrochlore Lattice: 7Li-NMR on LiInCr4O8 and LiGaCr4O8
• Low-Energy Excitations and Ground State Selection in Quantum Breathing Pyrochlore Antiferromagnet Ba${}_3$Yb${}_2$Zn${}_5$O${}_{11}$
• Magnetic Phase Diagram of the Breathing Pyrochlore Antiferromagnet LiGa1-xInxCr4O8
• Magnetic Transitions under Ultrahigh Magnetic Fields of up to 130 T in the Breathing Pyrochlore Antiferromagnet LiInCr4O8
• Classical Spin Nematic Transition in LiGa${}_{0.95}$In${}_{0.05}$Cr${}_4$O${}_8$
• Theory of antiferromagnetic Heisenberg spins on breathing pyrochlore lattice

Cited by in corpus (27)

• Quantum and Classical Phases of the Pyrochlore Heisenberg Model with Competing Interactions
• Rank-2 $U(1)$ spin liquid on the breathing pyrochlore lattice
• Breathing chromium spinels: a showcase for a variety of pyrochlore Heisenberg Hamiltonians
• Negative thermal expansion and magnetoelastic coupling in the breathing pyrochlore lattice material LiGaCr4S8
• Hedgehog-lattice spin texture in classical Heisenberg antiferromagnets on the breathing pyrochlore lattice
• Frustrated Magnetism in Fluoride and Chalcogenide Pyrochlore Lattice Materials
• Cluster Frustration in the Breathing Pyrochlore Magnet LiGaCr4S8
• Spin ordering induced by lattice distortions in classical Heisenberg antiferromagnets on the breathing pyrochlore lattice
• Magnetization process of the breathing pyrochlore magnet CuInCr${}_4$S${}_8$ in ultra-high magnetic fields up to 150 T
• Competing quantum spin liquids, gauge fluctuations, and anisotropic interactions in a breathing pyrochlore lattice
• Behavior of the breathing pyrochlore lattice Ba${}_3$Yb${}_2$Zn${}_5$O${}_{11}$ in applied magnetic field
• Thermal Expansion and Volume Magnetostriction in Breathing Pyrochlore Magnets LiACr${}_4$X${}_8$ (A = Ga, In, X = O, S)
• Effects of spin-lattice coupling and a magnetic field in classical Heisenberg antiferromagnets on the breathing pyrochlore lattice
• Synthesis, physical and magnetic properties of CuAlCr${}_4$S${}_8$: a new Cr-based breathing pyrochlore
• Hedgehog lattice and field-induced chirality in breathing-pyrochlore Heisenberg antiferromagnets
• Ferromagnetic Cr4PtGa17: A Novel Half-Heusler-Type Compound with a Breathing Pyrochlore Lattice
• Large Magnetic-Field-Induced Strains in Sintered Chromium Tellurides
• Hierarchical excitations from correlated spin tetrahedra on the breathing pyrochlore lattice
• Large Magnetic-Field-Induced Strain at the Magnetic Order Transition in Triangular Antiferromagnet AgCrS2
• Complex magnetic phase diagram with a small phase pocket in a three-dimensional frustrated magnet CuInCr${}_4$S${}_8$
• Large Magnetic-Field-Induced Strain at the Spin-Reorientation Transition in the A-Site Ordered Spinel Oxide LiFeCr4O8
• Breathing pyrochlore magnet CuGaCr${}_4$S${}_8$: Magnetic, thermodynamic, and dielectric properties
• Vison crystal in quantum spin ice on the breathing pyrochlore lattice
• Phase Diagram of a Spin-ice Kondo Lattice Model in a Breathing Pyrochlore Lattice
• Magnetism of single crystalline breathing pyrochlore spinel AgInCr4S8
• Electronic Self-Organization in the β-Pyrochlore Oxide CsW2O6
• Analytic description of spin waves in dipolar/octupolar pyrochlore magnets