Fluctuations and All-In-All-Out Ordering in Dipole-Octupole Nd(2)Zr(2)O(7)

Phys Rev Lett. 2015 Nov 6;115(19):197202. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.197202. Epub 2015 Nov 4.

Abstract

By means of neutron scattering and magnetization measurements down to 90 mK, we determine the magnetic ground state of the spin-ice candidate Nd(2)Zr(2)O(7). We show that, despite ferromagnetic interactions, Nd(2)Zr(2)O(7) undergoes a transition around 285 mK towards an all-in-all-out antiferromagnetic state, with a strongly reduced ordered magnetic moment. We establish the (H,T) phase diagram in the three directions of the applied field and reveal a metamagnetic transition around 0.1 T, associated with an unexpected shape of the magnetization curves. We propose that this behavior results from the peculiar nature of the Nd^{3+} doublet, a dipolar-octupolar doublet, different from the standard Kramers doublet studied to date, thus revealing the importance of multipolar correlations in the properties of pyrochlore oxides.