Doctoral Dissertations
Date of Award
5-2018
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Major
Physics
Major Professor
Haidong Zhou
Committee Members
Christian D. Batista, Jian Liu, David G. Mandrus
Abstract
The foundation of experimental condensed matter physics is comprised of two material processes, synthesis and characterization. For most measurements, single crystal samples are preferred as they allow spatially dependent information to be obtained. On the other hand, polycrystalline samples are also critical as they reveal bulk properties of the material and are generally much easier to produce. Material characterization then relies on accurately measuring a material's physical, electrical, and magnetic properties using a variety of different techniques.In this dissertation, we focus on triangular lattice antiferromagnets (TLAFs) which have been studied because of their great potential to exhibit various intriguing magnetic properties related to strong geometrical frustration. Recent studies of TLAFs mainly explore four central themes: quantum spin liquid (QSL) states, exotic disordered states, the coplanar 120 degree state and the related field induced spin state transitions, and multiferroicity. Accordingly, we have investigated two materials which fall into these categories. The first is the magnetodielectric material RCr(BO3)2 (R = Y and Ho), and the second is a group of Mo-cluster compounds including the quantum spin liquid candidate Li2In1-xScxMo3O8 and the ferromagnets (Mg,Zn)ScMo3O8. Both materials have been investigated using x-ray diffraction, powder neutron diffraction, ac and dc susceptibility, and specific heat capacity measurements as well as other complementary techniques. A discussion of these results as well as potential future experiments are included.
Recommended Citation
Sinclair, Ryan Patrick, "The Synthesis and Characterization of New Triangular Lattice Compounds with Exotic Magnetic Ground States. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2018.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/4953
Comments
Portions of this text have been published in Physical Review B, R. Sinclair, et al., Phys. Rev. B 95, 174410 (2017), and arxiv, A. Akbari-Sharbaf, R. Sinclair, et al., arXiv:1709.01904v2 (2017).