Investigation of the oxohalogenide Cu4Te5O12Cl4 with weakly coupled Cu(II) tetrahedra

Abstract

The crystal structure of the copper(II) tellurium(IV) oxochloride Cu$_{4}$Te$_{5}$O$_{12}$Cl$_{4}$ (Cu-45124) is composed of weakly coupled tetrahedral Cu clusters and shows crystallographic similarities with the intensively investigated compound Cu$_{2}$Te$_{2}$O$_{5}$X$_{2}$, with X~=~Cl, Br (Cu-2252). It differs from the latter by a larger separation of the tetrahedra within the crystallographic ab plane, that allows a more direct assignment of important inter-tetrahedra exchange paths and the existence of an inversion center. Magnetic susceptibility and specific heat evidence antiferromagnetic, frustrated correlations of the Cu spin moments and long range ordering with $T_{c}$=13.6 K. The entropy related to the transition is reduced due to quantum fluctuations. In Raman scattering a well structured low energy magnetic excitation is observed at energies of $\approx$50K (35cm$^{-1})$. This energy scale is reduced as compared to Cu-2252.