Abstract
We present a study of the ground state and stability of the fractional plateau phase (FPP) with M/Msat = 1/8 in the metallic Shastry–Sutherland system TmB4. Magnetization (M) measurements show that the FPP states are thermodynamically stable when the sample is cooled in constant magnetic field from the paramagnetic phase to the ordered one at 2 K. On the other hand, after zero-field cooling and subsequent magnetization these states appear to be of dynamic origin. In this case the FPP states are closely associated with the half plateau phase (HPP, M/Msat = ½), mediate the HPP to the low-field antiferromagnetic (AF) phase and depend on the thermodynamic history. Thus, in the same place of the phase diagram both, the stable and the metastable (dynamic) fractional plateau (FP) states, can be observed, depending on the way they are reached. In case of metastable FP states thermodynamic paths are identified that lead to very flat fractional plateaus in the FPP. Moreover, with a further decrease of magnetic field also the low-field AF phase becomes influenced and exhibits a plateau of the order of 1/1000 Msat.
Highlights
We present a study of the ground state and stability of the fractional plateau phase (FPP) with M/Msat = 1/8 in the metallic Shastry–Sutherland system TmB4
The most investigated among R EB4 compounds is T mB4 which orders antiferromagnetically at TN1 = 11.7 K. It has attracted attention for its rich magnetic phase diagram which is strongly biased by crystal field effects at the Tm3+ ion sites that lift the degeneracy of the J = 6 multiplet and lead to a MJ = ± 6 ground state doublet15,26–30. TmB4 exhibits strong Ising anisotropy where the saturation field along the easy c axis is at least 10 times smaller than in the perpendicular a-b plane
It turns out that the mFP towards low fields is much wider than the sFP
Summary
It is observed that after reaching the low-field AF phase by decreasing H from the HPP (across the FPP), the AF phase itself becomes influenced and does not exhibit the same properties as in its pristine state obtained after zero-field cooling. We identify thermodynamic paths which lead to very flat fractional plateaus with a wide range of magnetization values between 1/8 Msat to 1/80 Msat at 2 K and 16 kOe. The results bear important impact on future experimental investigations of this frustrated system as well as on the theoretical modeling of the magnetization processes in systems with Shastry–Sutherland lattice.
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