Evolution of highly anisotropic magnetism in the titanium-based kagome metals LnTi$_3$Bi$_4$ (Ln: La...Gd$^{3+}$, Eu$^{2+}$, Yb$^{2+}$)

TL;DR

This paper introduces a family of titanium-based kagome metals, LnTi$_3$Bi$_4$, exhibiting complex magnetic behaviors, intricate electronic structures with Dirac points, and potential for exploring topological and correlated phenomena.

Contribution

The study reports the synthesis, magnetic characterization, and electronic structure analysis of LnTi$_3$Bi$_4$ compounds, expanding the known kagome materials with new magnetic and topological features.

Findings

Presence of Dirac points at the Fermi level

Diverse magnetic ground states including ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism

Cascade of metamagnetic transitions

Abstract

Here we present the family of titanium-based kagome metals of the form LnTi$_3$Bi$_4$ (Ln: La...Gd$^{3+}$, Eu$^{2+}$, Yb$^{2+}$). Single crystal growth methods are presented alongside detailed magnetic and thermodynamic measurements. The orthorhombic (Fmmm) LnTi$_3$Bi$_4$ family of compounds exhibit slightly distorted titanium-based kagome nets interwoven with zig-zag lanthanide-based (Ln) chains. Crystals are easily exfoliated parallel to the kagome sheets and angular resolved photoemission (ARPES) measurements highlight the intricacy of the electronic structure in these compounds, with Dirac points existing at the Fermi level. The magnetic properties and the associated anisotropy emerge from the quasi-1D zig-zag chains of Ln, and impart a wide array of magnetic ground states ranging from anisotropic ferromagnetism to complex antiferromagnetism with a cascade of metamagnetic transitions. Kagome metals continue to provide a rich direction for the exploration of magnetic, topologic, and highly correlated behavior. Our work here introduces the LnTi$_3$Bi$_4$ compounds to augment the continuously expanding suite of complex and interesting kagome materials.