A Frustrated Antipolar Phase Analogous to Classical Spin Liquids.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 39440632.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1002/adma.202410282 and PMC identifier 11635917.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The study of magnetic frustration in classical spin systems is motivated by the prediction and discovery of classical spin liquid states. These uncommon magnetic phases are characterized by a massive degeneracy of their ground state implying a finite magnetic entropy at zero temperature. While the classical spin liquid state is originally predicted in the Ising triangular lattice antiferromagnet in 1950, this state has never been experimentally observed in any triangular magnets. The discovery of an electric analogue of classical spin liquids on a triangular lattice of uniaxial electric dipoles in EuAl<sub>12</sub>O<sub>19</sub> is reported here. This new type of frustrated antipolar phase is characterized by a highly-degenerate state at low temperature implying an absence of long-range antiferroelectric order, despite short-range antipolar correlations. Its dynamics are governed by a thermally activated process, slowing down upon cooling toward a complete freezing at zero temperature.