An intermediate state between the kagome-ice and the fully polarized state in Dy$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$

Abstract

Dy$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$ is at present the cleanest example of a spin-ice material. Previous theoretical and experimental work on the first-order transition between the kagome-ice and the fully polarized state has been taken as a validation for the dipolar spin-ice model. Here we investigate in further depth this phase transition using ac-susceptibility and dc-magnetization, and compare this results with Monte-Carlo simulations and previous magnetization and specific heat measurements. We find signatures of an intermediate state between the kagome-ice and full polarization. This signatures are absent in current theoretical models used to describe spin-ice materials.Received: 17 May 2015, Accepted: 12 June 2015; Edited by: A. Vindigni; Reviewed by: M. Perfetti, Dipartimento di Chimica, Universitá di Firenze, Italy; DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4279/PIP.070009Cite as: S A Grigera, R A Borzi, D G Slobinsky, A S Gibbs, R Higashinaka, Y Maeno, T S Grigera, Papers in Physics 7, 070009 (2015)This paper, by S A Grigera, R A Borzi, D G Slobinsky, A S Gibbs, R Higashinaka, Y Maeno, T S Grigera, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0.