Recent Progress in Studies of Cobalt-based Quasi-1-dimensional Quantum Magnets

TL;DR

This review summarizes recent advances in understanding cobalt-based quasi-one-dimensional quantum magnets, highlighting how modern techniques have revealed exotic phenomena and suggesting future research directions.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of recent progress and identifies promising future research directions in cobalt-based quasi-1D quantum magnetic materials.

Findings

Emergence of exotic quantum phenomena in recent decades

Advances in characterization techniques have deepened understanding

Potential future research directions identified

Abstract

The interplay of crystal electric field, temperature, and spin-orbit coupling can yield a Kramers ion and thus an effective S = 1/2 ground state for Co2+ ions (3d7), which is often the case for low dimensional materials. This is because a highly anisotropic structural motif can force the spins to point either up or down, hence becoming a system where spins communicate via Ising interactions. Cobalt-based quasi-1-dimensional materials have been studied in this context since the latter half of the 20th century, but due to the development of modern characterization techniques and advances in sample preparation, the exotic physical phenomena that have generated the most interest have only emerged in the most recent three to four decades. This topical review mainly summarizes progress in cobalt-based quasi-1-dimensional quantum magnets, and comments on a few research directions of potential future interest.