Sul-Cu2Cl4

Chemical formula:

C4H8SO2Cu2Cl4-4xBr4x

Lattice type:


Triclinic

How to grow:

Wet chemistry synthesis

Magnetic model:

S=1/2 frustrated chain

Why is it cool:

Extremely frustrated 1D material with field-induced multiferroic properties

Sul-Cu2Cl4

Sul-Cu2Cl4 is interesting for many reasons. First, it is a strongly frustrated chain system with complicated exchanges. Their topology is actually quite involved, being similar to a four-leg tube with diagonal interactions. Thus, it is gapped and incommensurate at the same time, and the gap is really tiny compared to the overall energy scale. Second, this material is a field-induced multiferroic (or, more precisely, improper ferroelectric). Polarization goes hand-in-hand with the spiral order stemming from the magnon condensation, and thanks to the high degree of one-dimensionality is is very sensitive to the perturbing electric fields. Finally, the material can also adopt some chemical disorder, that immediately ruins the ordered phase even at very high magnetic fields. 


Sul-Cu2Cl4 dielectric
Magnetocapacitive effect at a magnetic quantum critical point in Sul-Cu2Cl4. Dielectric permittivity shows an anomaly typical for improper ferroelectrics, but also with a strong nonlinearity.

K. Yu. Povarov, A. Reichert, E. Wulf and A. Zheludev,  Giant dielectric nonlinearities at a magnetic Bose-​Einstein condensation, external page Phys. Rev. B 92, 140410(R) (2015); external page arXiv:1503.08173

F. Schrettle, S. Krohns, P. Lunkenheimer, A. Loidl, E. Wulf, T. Yankova and A. Zheludev, Multiferroic quantum criticality in a frustrated spin liquid, external page Phys. Rev. B 87, 121105(R) (2013); external page arXiv:1203.3127v1

E. Wulf, S. Muehlbauer, T. Yankova and A. Zheludev, Disorder instability of the magnon condensate in a frustrated spin ladder, external page Phys. Rev. B 84, 174414 (2011), external page arXiv:1110.0806v1

A. Zheludev, V. O. Garlea, A. Tsvelik, L.-P. Regnault, K. Habicht, K. Kiefer, and B. Roessli, Excitations from a chiral magnetized state of a frustrated quantum spin liquid, external page Phys. Rev. B 80, 214413 (2009)

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