Order-by-disorder and spiral spin-liquid in frustrated diamond-lattice antiferromagnets

Abstract

Frustration refers to competition between different interactions that cannot be simultaneously satisfied—a familiar feature in many magnetic solids. Strong frustration leads to highly degenerate ground states and a large suppression of ordering by fluctuations. Key challenges in frustrated magnetism include the characterization of the fluctuating spin-liquid regime and determination of the mechanism of eventual order at lower temperature. Here, we study a model of a diamond-lattice antiferromagnet appropriate for numerous spinel materials. With sufficiently strong frustration, a massive ground-state degeneracy develops amongst spirals whose propagation wavevectors reside on a continuous two-dimensional 'spiral surface' in momentum space. We argue that an important ordering mechanism is entropic splitting of the degenerate ground states, an elusive phenomenon called 'order by disorder'. A broad spiral spin-liquid regime emerges at higher temperatures, where the underlying spiral surface can be directly revealed through spin correlations. We discuss the agreement between these predictions and the well-characterized spinel MnSc₂S₄.

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