Diluted paramagnetic impurities in nonmagnetic Ba$_2$YIrO$_6$

TL;DR

This study uses NMR and muSR techniques to show that Ba$_2$YIrO$_6$ lacks magnetic order but contains diluted paramagnetic impurities, indicating a nonmagnetic ground state with localized moments.

Contribution

It provides evidence that the magnetic signals in Ba$_2$YIrO$_6$ originate from diluted paramagnetic impurities rather than intrinsic excitonic magnetism.

Findings

No magnetic long-range order detected.

Presence of diluted localized paramagnetic moments.

Magnetic response due to tiny impurity centers.

Abstract

The cubic double perovskite Ba$_2$YIrO$_6$ has been investigated by the local probe techniques nuclear magnetic resonance ($^{89}$Y NMR) and muon spin rotation (muSR). Both methods confirm the absence of magnetic long-range order in this compound but find evidence for diluted localized paramagnetic moments. NMR spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T1 measurements suggest a slowing down of localized spin moments at low temperatures. An increase of the muSR spin-lattice relaxation rate lambda confirms the presence of weak magnetism in Ba$_2$YIrO$_6$ . However, these findings cannot be explained by the recently suggested excitonic type of magnetism. Instead, they point towards tiny amounts of localized paramagnetic spin centers leading to this magnetic response on the background of a simple nonmagnetic ground state of the 5d$^4$ ($J=0)$ electronic configuration of Ir$^{5+}$.