Abstract
We report on the magnetic properties of an insulating cubic compoundCu3TeO6 studied by ac and dc susceptibility, torque magnetometry and neutron powder diffraction.A novel three-dimensional magnetic lattice composed of almost planar regular hexagons ofCu2+ S = 1/2 spins ispresent in Cu3TeO6. The magnetic susceptibility in the paramagnetic state obeys the Curie–Weiss law in the 200–330 K regimewith ΘCW = −148 Kand at TN = 61 K system undergoes an antiferromagnetic phase transition. AboveTN the susceptibility isisotropic. Below TN a largeanisotropy develops in fields H≥500 Oe. Torque measurements reveal the presence of antiferromagnetic domains belowTN. In a rather low magnetic field ( Oe) switching of domains is observed. The dynamics related to movementof domain walls is very slow at low temperatures (of the order of102 s) and interferes with all torque measurements. The presence of domains is a consequenceof the symmetry of the underlying magnetic lattice. Neutron powder diffraction revealsthat antiferromagnetic long-range order is associated with the wavevector . The dominant component of the magnetic moment is along one of the space diagonals of the cubic unit cell, but it is not possible to resolve whether thestructure is collinear or canted.
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