Frustration and Correlations in Stacked Triangular Lattice Ising Antiferromagnets

TL;DR

This paper investigates multilayer triangular lattice Ising antiferromagnets with frustrated interlayer interactions, revealing a classical spin liquid phase characterized by strong correlations without long-range order, and explaining diffuse scattering phenomena.

Contribution

It introduces a coupled height model to analyze frustrated multilayer Ising systems, uncovering a classical spin liquid regime with specific scattering features.

Findings

Presence of a classical spin liquid phase at low temperatures.

Diffuse scattering concentrated on a helix in reciprocal space.

Strong intralayer and interlayer correlations without long-range order.

Abstract

We study multilayer triangular lattice Ising antiferromagnets with interlayer interactions that are weak and frustrated in an abc stacking. By analysing a coupled height model description of these systems, we show that they exhibit a classical spin liquid regime at low temperature, in which both intralayer and interlayer correlations are strong but there is no long range order. Diffuse scattering in this regime is concentrated on a helix in reciprocal space, as observed for charge-ordering in the materials LuFe$_2$O$_4$ and YbFe$_2$O$_4$.