Chemo-Structural Disorder in the kagomé spin $S$ = 1/2 systems ZnCu$_3$(OH)$_6$Cl$_2$ and YCu$_3$(OH)$_{6}$Br$_{2}$[Br$_x$(OH)$_{1-x}$]

Reinhard K. Kremer; Sebastian Bette; Jürgen Nuss; Pascal Puphal

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.111.024424

paper

Chemo-Structural Disorder in the kagomé spin $S$ = 1/2 systems ZnCu $_{3}$ (OH) $_{6}$ Cl $_{2}$ and YCu $_{3}$ (OH) $_{6}$ Br $_{2}$ [Br $_{x}$ (OH) $_{1 - x}$ ]

arXiv:2411.18331 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.111.024424

Abstract

By single crystal diffraction we characterize the chemo-structural disorder introduced by Zn-Cu site mixing in the kagomé spin $S$ -1/2 systems herbertsmithite ZnCu $_{3}$ (OH) $_{6}$ Cl $_{2}$ and YCu $_{3}$ (OH) $_{6}$ Br $_{2}$ [Br $_{x}$ (OH) $_{1 - x}$ ]. For an untwinned single crystal of herbertsmithite of composition Zn $_{0.95 (1)}$ Cu $_{2.99 (3)}$ O $_{5.9 (1)}$ H $_{5.8 (1)}$ Cl $_{2}$ we find substitution by Cu of the Zn atoms in the layers separating the kagomé layers as well as substantial Zn substitution for Cu in the kagomé layers. In YCu $_{3}$ (OH) $_{6}$ Br $_{2}$ [Br $_{x}$ (OH) $_{1 - x}$ ] site mixing disorder is present for intermediate $x$ . Analogous to the Cl homologous system in crystals with $x = 1/3$ disorder is absent and a low-temperature structural transition emerges driven by strong magneto-phonon coupling as a release of frustration. Apart from this structural anomaly we find the physical properties of these crystals unchanged compared to intermediate $x$ and closely resembling the Cl homologue where long-range magnetic order was observed.

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Cited by in corpus (1)

Spinon mediation of witness spin dynamics in herbertsmithite

Chemo-Structural Disorder in the kagomé spin S = 1/2 systems ZnCu3​(OH)6​Cl2​ and YCu3​(OH)6​Br2​[Brx​(OH)1−x​]

Abstract

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Cited by in corpus (1)

Chemo-Structural Disorder in the kagomé spin $S$ = 1/2 systems ZnCu $_{3}$ (OH) $_{6}$ Cl $_{2}$ and YCu $_{3}$ (OH) $_{6}$ Br $_{2}$ [Br $_{x}$ (OH) $_{1 - x}$ ]