Magnetic phase diagram and spin Hamiltonian of antiferromagnet Cs${}_2$CoI${}_4$

Abstract

We report comprehensive thermodynamic and neutron scattering measurements on the $S$ = 3/2 antiferromagnet Cs${}_2$CoI${}_4$, a member of the thoroughly studied family of frustrated magnets Cs${}_{2}M{X}_4$ ($M$ = Cu, Co, Ru, $X$ = Br, Cl, I, O). Unlike previously studied members, Cs${}_2$CoI${}_4$ undergoes a structural phase transition, for which we determine the low-temperature crystallographic structure. The resulting symmetry reduction strongly affects both the magnetic exchange interactions and single-ion anisotropy. Despite the large parameter space, we propose a minimal magnetic Hamiltonian that reasonably captures the observed excitation spectrum, analyzed using extended SU(4) linear spin-wave theory.

15 pages, 17 figures