The Magnetic Ground State of Atacamite Cu2Cl(OH)3: The Crucial Role of Frustrated Zigzag Chains Revealed by Inelastic Neutron Scattering
Abstract
We report inelastic neutron scattering (INS) measurements on the magnetically frustrated S=12 sawtooth-chain compound atacamite Cu2Cl(OH)3 featuring inequivalent Cu(1) and Cu(2) sites. Transverse to the sawtooth chains, INS reveals two dispersive spin-wave modes and a gap of at least 0.75 meV. This behavior is rationalized within a zigzag-chain model of Cu(2) spins in an effective magnetic field of Cu(1) spins. The model is compatible with first-principles calculations and accounts for INS dispersions within linear spin-wave theory calculations. Our results reveal a unique case of an effective separation of energy scales between two differently oriented one-dimensional chains, with the zigzag-chain model being essential to fully characterize atacamite's low-energy magnetism.
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