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Article
Numerical study of the thermodynamics of clinoatacamite
Physical Review B (2012)
  • Ehsan Khatami, Georgetown University
  • Joel S. Helton, NIST Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology
  • Marcos Rigol, Georgetown University
Abstract
We study the thermodynamic properties of the clinoatacamite compound, Cu2(OH)3Cl, by considering several approximate models. They include the Heisenberg model on (i) the uniform pyrochlore lattice, (ii) a very anisotropic pyrochlore lattice, and (iii) a kagome lattice weakly coupled to spins that sit on a triangular lattice. We utilize the exact diagonalization of small clusters with periodic boundary conditions and implement a numerical linked-cluster expansion approach for quantum lattice models with reduced symmetries, which allows us to solve model (iii) in the thermodynamic limit. We find a very good agreement between the experimental uniform susceptibility and the numerical results for models (ii) and (iii), which suggests a weak ferromagnetic coupling between the kagome and triangular layers in clinoatacamite. We also study thermodynamic properties in a geometrical transition between a planar pyrochlore lattice and the kagome lattice.
Keywords
  • Thermodynamics,
  • Clinoatacamite,
  • Clusters,
  • Pyrochlore
Publication Date
February, 2012
DOI
10.1103/PhysRevB.85.064401
Publisher Statement
This article originally appeared in Physical Review B, volume 85, issue 6, 2012, published by the American Physical Society. ©2012 American Physical Society. The article can also be found online at this link.

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Citation Information
Ehsan Khatami, Joel S. Helton and Marcos Rigol. "Numerical study of the thermodynamics of clinoatacamite" Physical Review B Vol. 85 Iss. 6 (2012) ISSN: 2469-9950
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/ehsan_khatami/9/