Magnetic properties and magnetic structure of the frustrated quasi-one-dimensional antiferromagnet SrCuTe₂O₆

We will present results of magnetization measurements and neutron diffraction measurements to investigate a magnetic structure of the frustrated quasi-one-dimensional antiferromagnet SrCuTe₂O₆. The magnetization measurements on single-crystal cubic SrCuTe₂O₆ with an applied magnetic field along three inequivalent high symmetry directions [100], [110], and [111] reveal weak magnetic anisotropy. The results from a quantum Monte Carlo simulation on the Heisenberg spin-chain model, where the chain is formed via the dominant third-nearest-neighbor exchange interaction J₃, yield the intrachain interaction (J₃/k_B) between 50.12(7) K for the applied field along [110] and 52.5(2) K along [100] with about the same g factor of 2.2. Single-crystal neutron diffraction unveils the transition to the magnetic ordered state as evidenced by the onset of the magnetic Bragg intensity at T_N1 = 5.25(9)K. Based on irreducible representation theory and magnetic space group analysis of powder and single-crystal neutron diffraction data, the magnetic structure in the Shubnikov space group P4₁32, where the Cu²⁺ S = 1/2 spins antiferromagnetically align in the direction perpendicular to the spin chain, is proposed with the ordered moment of 0.52(6)μ_B.