Structural and Magnetic Properties of Single Crystals of the Geometrically Frustrated Zirconium Pyrochlore, Pr2Zr2O7

TL;DR

This study reports the growth and characterization of high-quality Pr2Zr2O7 single crystals, revealing antiferromagnetic interactions and spin-ice like anisotropy in a geometrically frustrated magnet.

Contribution

It presents a method for growing large Pr2Zr2O7 crystals and provides detailed structural and magnetic property analysis, highlighting new insights into its magnetic behavior.

Findings

Crystals grown with varying Pr6O11 excess show slight Pr deficiency.

Magnetic susceptibility indicates antiferromagnetic coupling with a Weiss temperature of -2.5 K.

Magnetization measurements reveal spin-ice like anisotropy.

Abstract

We report the growth of large high quality crystals of the frustrated magnet, Pr2Zr2O7 by the floating zone technique. Several crystals have been produced starting with varying levels of excess of Pr6O11 to compensate for the loss of Pr2O3 during the growth process. X-ray diffraction analysis of the crystals shows that the Pr composition in our crystals, as determined by the Pr site occupancy in the pyrochlore structure, is always slightly less than 1. Fits to the magnetic sus-ceptibility data below 10 K using a Curie-Weiss law reveal an antiferromagnetic coupling between the Pr moments, with an estimated Weiss temperature of {\Theta}W = -2.5 K and an effective moment for the Pr3+ of {\mu}eff = 2.5 {\mu}B. Magnetization versus field measurements show a spin-ice like anisotropy.