Crystal Field Fluctuations in a Frustrated Pyrochlore Antiferromagnet Tb$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$.
ORAL
Abstract
The antiferromagnetic pyrochlore Tb$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$ presents a challenging puzzle to experimentalists and theorists studying frustrated magnets. Results from muon spin resonance and neutron scattering experiments for Tb$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$ reveal a paramagnetic structure down to $50 $mK despite an antiferromagnetic Curie-Weiss temperature, $\theta_{\rm CW}=-20 $K. Crystal field calculations show that the Tb$^{3+}$ ion in Tb$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$ is a ground state doublet with local $\langle 111 \rangle$ anisotropy and is separated from the first excited doublet state by a gap of 20K. We apply the Rayleigh-Schrodinger method to map the four states problem with exchange and dipole-dipole interactions onto an effective Hamiltonian with two states per ion. We give some properties of this effective Hamiltonian and discuss the possible classical and quantum phases of Tb$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$.
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Authors
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Hamid R. Molavian
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Michel J. P. Gingras
Department of Physics, University of Waterloo, Department of physics, University of Waterloo