Magnetization plateaux cascade in the frustrated quantum antiferromagnet Cs2CoBr4

Abstract

We have found an unusual competition of two frustration mechanisms in the 2D quantum antiferromagnet Cs2CoBr4. The key actors are the alternation of single-ion planar anisotropy direction of the individual magnetic Co2+ ions, and their arrangement in a distorted triangular lattice structure. In particular, the uniquely oriented Ising-type anisotropy emerges from the competition of easy-plane ones, and for a magnetic field applied along this axis one finds a cascade of five ordered phases at low temperatures. Two of these phases feature magnetization plateaux. The low-field one is supposed to be a consequence of a collinear ground state stabilized by the anisotropy, while the other plateau bears characteristics of an "up-up-down"state exclusive for lattices with triangular exchange patterns. Such coexistence of the magnetization plateaux is a fingerprint of competition between the anisotropy and the geometric frustration in Cs2CoBr4.