Elucidating Magnetic Order in a Quantum Spin Liquid Mother Compound, Cu4(OD)6FBr
Quantum spin liquids are intriguing states of matter in which magnetic frustration and strong quantum fluctuations prevent classical long-range magnetic order. To date, one of the best experimental realisations of such a system is herbertsmithite, ZnCu3(OH)6Cl2, but the exact nature of its ground state remains a matter of debate. Recently, we have explored Zn-doping in the related compound barlowite, ZnxCu4-x(OH)6FBr, which like herbertsmithite contains frustrated corner-sharing triangular layers of Cu2+ ions. The x = 0 member of this series undergoes a magnetic ordering transition at 15 K, and we were awarded beamtime on the GEM diffractometer at the ISIS Facility to determine the magnetic structure of the Cu4(OH)6FBr ground state. We do see magnetic Bragg peaks in our GEM data at the expected d-spacings based on our predictions of the magnetic structure, but given the small ordered moment, the flux on GEM was not sufficient to clearly resolve the magnetic Bragg scattering. As such, we request EASY access on D20 to make use of its extremely high flux to complete our experiment and solve the magnetic structure. We require two measurements - 4 hours at 1.7 K and 4 hours at 20 K.
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L. Clark and RITTER Clemens. (2018). Elucidating Magnetic Order in a Quantum Spin Liquid Mother Compound, Cu4(OD)6FBr. Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) doi:10.5291/ILL-DATA.EASY-295
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