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Magnetic phase competition in the rare-earth pyrochlore Er<sub>2</sub>Sn<sub>2</sub>O<sub>7</sub>

ORAL

Abstract

Rare-earth pyrochlore oxides (A2B2O7) can host a wealth of exotic phenomena due to geometric- and exchange-frustration. Er2Sn2O7 is especially interesting in this regard as, based on available estimates of the exchange interactions, it lies near a phase boundary in the anisotropic exchange parameter space, between two antiferromagnetic states: the Palmer-Chalker states (where Er2Sn2O7 orders) and the Γ5 states. A natural tool to probe such multi-phase competition is the application of an external magnetic field, but until now the absence of single crystals made such approach difficult to analyze. In this talk, we report specific heat measurements on single crystals of Er2Sn2O7 under fields applied along the three high symmetry directions, [111], [110], and [100]. Each field direction provides a distinct phase diagram, but with the shared feature that one (sometimes even two) reentrant lobe(s) appear above a threshold field of 0.2 T. The nature of this reentrance can be understood semi-quantitatively through classical Monte-Carlo simulations and mean field theory, the details of which will be described in a presentation by D. Pereira.

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Presenters

  • Danielle R Yahne

    Colorado State University, Department of Physics, Colorado State University

Authors

  • Danielle R Yahne

    Colorado State University, Department of Physics, Colorado State University

  • Liurukara D Sanjeewa

    Oak Ridge National Lab, Materials Science & Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

  • Joseph Kolis

    Clemson University, Department of Chemistry, Clemson University

  • Ludovic DC Jaubert

    CNRS-Bordeaux, CNRS Bordeaux, CNRS, University of Bordeaux, CRNS, LOMA, University of Bordeaux

  • Darren Pereira

    University of Waterloo, Department of Physics, University of Waterloo

  • Matthew John Enjalran

    Southern Connecticut State University, Department of Physics, Southern Connecticut State University

  • Michel J P Gingras

    Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, University of Waterloo, Department of Physics, University of Waterloo

  • Kate Ross

    Colorado State University, Physics, Colorado State University, Colorado State Univ, Department of Physics, Colorado State University