Document Type

Article

Publication Date

February 2012

Publication Title

Physical Review B

Volume

85

Issue Number

6

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevB.85.064401

Keywords

Thermodynamics, Clinoatacamite, Clusters, Pyrochlore

Disciplines

Astrophysics and Astronomy | Physical Sciences and Mathematics | Physics

Abstract

We study the thermodynamic properties of the clinoatacamite compound, Cu2(OH)3Cl, by considering several approximate models. They include the Heisenberg model on (i) the uniform pyrochlore lattice, (ii) a very anisotropic pyrochlore lattice, and (iii) a kagome lattice weakly coupled to spins that sit on a triangular lattice. We utilize the exact diagonalization of small clusters with periodic boundary conditions and implement a numerical linked-cluster expansion approach for quantum lattice models with reduced symmetries, which allows us to solve model (iii) in the thermodynamic limit. We find a very good agreement between the experimental uniform susceptibility and the numerical results for models (ii) and (iii), which suggests a weak ferromagnetic coupling between the kagome and triangular layers in clinoatacamite. We also study thermodynamic properties in a geometrical transition between a planar pyrochlore lattice and the kagome lattice.

Comments

This article originally appeared in Physical Review B, volume 85, issue 6, 2012, published by the American Physical Society. ©2012 American Physical Society. The article can also be found online at this link.
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