Anisotropic exchange Hamiltonian, magnetic phase diagram, and domain inversion of Nd2Zr2O7

We present thermodynamic and neutron-scattering measurements on the quantum spin ice candidate Nd2Zr2O7. The parametrization of the anisotropic exchange Hamiltonian is refined based on high-energy-resolution inelastic neutron-scattering data together with thermodynamic data using linear spin-wave th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. B 2019-04, Vol.99 (14), p.144420
Main Authors: Xu, J, Benton, Owen, Anand, V K, Islam, A T M N, Guidi, T, Ehlers, G, Feng, E, Su, Y, Sakai, A, Gegenwart, P, Lake, B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anisotropy
Computer simulation
Crystallography
Exchanging
Inelastic scattering
Mathematical analysis
Metastable state
Parameterization
Phase diagrams
Spin ice
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Summary:We present thermodynamic and neutron-scattering measurements on the quantum spin ice candidate Nd2Zr2O7. The parametrization of the anisotropic exchange Hamiltonian is refined based on high-energy-resolution inelastic neutron-scattering data together with thermodynamic data using linear spin-wave theory and numerical linked-cluster expansion. Magnetic phase diagrams are calculated using classical Monte Carlo simulations with fields along [100], [110], and [111] crystallographic directions which agree qualitatively with the experiment. Large hysteresis and irreversibility for [111] is reproduced and the microscopic mechanism is revealed by mean-field calculations to be the existence of metastable states and domain inversion. Our results shed light on the explanations of the recently observed dynamical kagome ice in Nd2Zr2O7 in [111] fields.
ISSN:2469-9950
2469-9969
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevB.99.144420