Magnetic properties of Sr3NiIrO6 and Sr3CoIrO6: Magnetic hysteresis with coercive fields of up to 55 T

Abstract

We report extraordinarily large magnetic hysteresis loops in the iridates Sr3NiIrO5 and Sr3CoIrO6. We find coercive magnetic fields of up to 55 T with switched magnetic moments ≈1μB per formula unit in Sr3NiIrO6 and coercive fields of up to 52 T with switched moments ≈3μB per formula unit in Sr3CoIrO6. We propose that the magnetic hysteresis involves the field-induced evolution of quasi-one-dimensional chains in a frustrated triangular configuration. The striking magnetic behavior is likely to be linked to the unusual spin-orbit-entangled local state of the Ir4+ ion and its potential for anisotropic exchange interactions.