Magnetisation process in the rare earth tetraborides, NdB4 and HoB4

First-Principles Study of the Magnetic and Electronic Structure of NdB4

Due to their magnetic and physical properties, rare earth magnetic borides have been applied to a variety of critical technologies. In particular, rare earth tetraborides are more abundant as frustrated antiferromagnets. Here, the atomic structures, magnetic structures, and electronic structures of NdB₄ have been studied by first-principle calculations. The ground state magnetic structure of NdB₄ is determined. Moreover, the small energy difference between different magnetic structures means that there may be more than one magnetic structure that coexist. One can glean from the electronic structure of the magnetic ground state that the d orbital of Nd is strongly hybridized with the p orbital of B, and the f electron of Nd is highly localized. The computational results reveal the complexity of the magnetic structure and provide a theoretical basis for studying the magnetic ground state of NdB₄.

Intermediate valence state in YbB4revealed by resonant x-ray emission spectroscopy

We report the temperature dependence of the Yb valence in the geometrically frustrated compoundYbB4from 12 to 300 K using resonant x-ray emission spectroscopy at the YbLα1transition. We find that the Yb valence,v, is hybridized between thev = 2 andv = 3 valence states, increasing fromv=2.61±0.01at 12 K tov=2.67±0.01at 300 K, confirming thatYbB4is a Kondo system in the intermediate valence regime. This result indicates that the Kondo interaction inYbB4is substantial, and is likely to be the reason whyYbB4does not order magnetically at low temperature, rather than this being an effect of geometric frustration. Furthermore, the zero-point valence of the system is extracted from our data and compared with other Kondo lattice systems. The zero-point valence seems to be weakly dependent on the Kondo temperature scale, but not on the valence change temperature scaleT_v.

Ground state and stability of the fractional plateau phase in metallic Shastry-Sutherland system TmB4

We present a study of the ground state and stability of the fractional plateau phase (FPP) with M/M_sat = 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/M_sat = 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 M_sat.

Large-scale influence of defect bonds in geometrically constrained self-assembly

Recently, the importance of higher-order interactions in the physics of quantum systems and nanoparticle assemblies has prompted the exploration of new classes of networks that grow through geometrically constrained simplex aggregation. Based on the model of chemically tunable self-assembly of simplexes [Šuvakov et al., Sci. Rep. 8, 1987 (2018)2045-232210.1038/s41598-018-20398-x], here we extend the model to allow the presence of a defect edge per simplex. Using a wide distribution of simplex sizes (from edges, triangles, tetrahedrons, etc., up to 10-cliques) and various chemical affinity parameters, we investigate the magnitude of the impact of defects on the self-assembly process and the emerging higher-order networks. Their essential characteristics are treelike patterns of defect bonds, hyperbolic geometry, and simplicial complexes, which are described using the algebraic topology method. Furthermore, we demonstrate how the presence of patterned defects can be used to alter the structure of the assembly after the growth process is complete. In the assemblies grown under different chemical affinities, we consider the removal of defect bonds and analyze the progressive changes in the hierarchical architecture of simplicial complexes and the hyperbolicity parameters of the underlying graphs. Within the framework of cooperative self-assembly of nanonetworks, these results shed light on the use of defects in the design of complex materials. They also provide a different perspective on the understanding of extended connectivity beyond pairwise interactions in many complex systems.

Magnetisation Processes in Geometrically Frustrated Spin Networks with Self-Assembled Cliques

Functional designs of nanostructured materials seek to exploit the potential of complex morphologies and disorder. In this context, the spin dynamics in disordered antiferromagnetic materials present a significant challenge due to induced geometric frustration. Here we analyse the processes of magnetisation reversal driven by an external field in generalised spin networks with higher-order connectivity and antiferromagnetic defects. Using the model in (Tadić et al. Arxiv:1912.02433), we grow nanonetworks with geometrically constrained self-assemblies of simplexes (cliques) of a given size n, and with probability p each simplex possesses a defect edge affecting its binding, leading to a tree-like pattern of defects. The Ising spins are attached to vertices and have ferromagnetic interactions, while antiferromagnetic couplings apply between pairs of spins along each defect edge. Thus, a defect edge induces n - 2 frustrated triangles per n-clique participating in a larger-scale complex. We determine several topological, entropic, and graph-theoretic measures to characterise the structures of these assemblies. Further, we show how the sizes of simplexes building the aggregates with a given pattern of defects affects the magnetisation curves, the length of the domain walls and the shape of the hysteresis loop. The hysteresis shows a sequence of plateaus of fractional magnetisation and multiscale fluctuations in the passage between them. For fully antiferromagnetic interactions, the loop splits into two parts only in mono-disperse assemblies of cliques consisting of an odd number of vertices n. At the same time, remnant magnetisation occurs when n is even, and in poly-disperse assemblies of cliques in the range n ∈ [ 2 , 10 ] . These results shed light on spin dynamics in complex nanomagnetic assemblies in which geometric frustration arises in the interplay of higher-order connectivity and antiferromagnetic interactions.

Rotating magnetocaloric effect and unusual magnetic features in metallic strongly anisotropic geometrically frustrated TmB4

We have investigated the rotating magnetocaloric effect (R-MCE) of TmB₄ - an anisotropic magnetic system with geometrical frustration of Shastry-Sutherland type. The R-MCE was obtained from detailed temperature dependencies of heat capacity in various magnetic fields of a single crystalline sample for crystal axes orientations c || B and c ⊥ B. The received results exhibit rather complex distributions of positive and negative entropy ΔS(T, B) and temperature ΔT(T, B) differences below and above T_N when the direction of the magnetic field changes between directions c || B and c ⊥ B. The calculated results were confirmed by direct R-MCE measurements which, moreover, show an interesting angular dependence of R-MCE in the ordered phase, which seems to be related with the change of the effective magnetic field along the c axis during sample rotation. Thus, our study presents a new type of magnetic refrigerant with a rather large R-MCE for low temperature magnetic refrigeration, and points to further interesting magnetic features in the ordered phase of this frustrated system.