Field-induced magnetic behavior of the bilayer iridate Sr3Ir2O7

TL;DR

This study investigates the magnetic properties of Sr3Ir2O7 using resonant x-ray scattering, revealing antiferromagnetic order, spin reorientation, and the effects of magnetic fields on its magnetic states.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the magnetic behavior and phase stability of Sr3Ir2O7 under different temperature and magnetic field conditions.

Findings

Antiferromagnetic order develops below ~260 K.

Spin reorientation transition occurs around 50 K.

No field-induced phase transitions observed below 4 T.

Abstract

We have performed resonant magnetic x-ray scattering (RMXS) measurements on single crystal samples of the bilayer iridate Sr3Ir2O7. We observe the development of antiferromagnetic order below T* ~ 260 K, which persists down to T = 4 K under both field-cooled (fc) and zero-field-cooled (zfc) conditions. The temperature dependence of the fc and zfc magnetic Bragg peaks suggests the presence of competition between canted and collinear antiferromagnetic ground states. Under zfc conditions, we observe a suppression of magnetic peak intensity at T_D ~ 50 K which can be attributed to a spin reorientation transition. Under fc conditions, we find that the canted antiferromagnetic state is stabilized over a much wider range of temperatures, with significantly enhanced magnetic correlation lengths within the Ir-O layers. The field dependence of the magnetic Bragg peaks provides no evidence of field-induced phase transitions for H < 4 T.