Frustration on a centered pyrochlore lattice in metal-organic frameworks

Abstract

Geometric frustration inhibits magnetic systems from ordering, opening a window to unconventional phases of matter. The paradigmatic frustrated lattice in three dimensions to host a spin liquid is the pyrochlore, although there remain few experimental compounds thought to realize such a state. Here, we go beyond the pyrochlore via molecular design in the metal-azolate framework [Mn(II)(ta)2], which realizes a closely related centered pyrochlore lattice of Mn spins with S=5/2. Despite a Curie-Weiss temperature of -21 K indicating the energy scale of magnetic interactions, [Mn(II)(ta)2] orders at only 430 mK, putting it firmly in the category of highly frustrated magnets. Comparing magnetization and specific-heat measurements to numerical results for a minimal Heisenberg model, we predict that this material displays distinct features of a classical spin liquid with a structure factor reflecting Coulomb physics in the presence of charges.