Speaker
Description
Clinoatacamite [Cu2Cl(OH)3] has long been a subject of intense interest in the study of frustrated quantum magnetism due to its distorted kagome lattice and complex magnetic phase diagram. Despite this interest, the nature of its magnetism remains partially inconclusive, particularly between 6.4 K and 18.1 K [1] where long-range order with propagation vector q_m= (-0.5, 0, 0.5) is present [2]. For this region, a metamagnetic texture has been proposed by theory recently [3].
In this work, we present the results of polarized neutron diffuse scattering experiments performed on a deuterated clinoatacamite powder sample using the D007 instrument at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL). This represents a novel approach to study this material, specifically designed to address the challenges of separating magnetic contributions from nuclear and spin-incoherent scattering. By employing xyz polarization analysis, we aim to isolate the magnetic scattering signal and determine whether the intermediate phase is characterized by strong but short-ranged magnetic correlations that elude detection in standard diffraction. Analysis will be conducted using SPINVERT [4], which employs the reverse Monte Carlo method to refine a 3D atomistic model against diffuse powder data, allowing us to recover the 3D spin correlations.
We will discuss our data from these measurements, which provide the first direct indications of long-range and short-range order within the frustrated phase. These findings are essential to understand the coexistence of long-range order and persistent spin fluctuations.
[1] doi: 10.1088/0953-8984/20/47/472206.
[2] doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2411.01277.
[3] https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.21024
[4] https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1302.2949
| I am the presenting author | Yes |
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