Synthesis and characterization of single crystal kagomé lattice antiferromagnets
Name
871331538-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
5.31 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
12e95e5e6c7ecf82da8e811b0bdaec39
Author(s)
Han, Tianheng, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Advisor(s)
Young S. Lee.
Date Issued
2010
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
An ideal spin-% kagomé lattice has been a long sought material. This system is characterized by strong magnetic frustration and is a likely candidate for a spin-liquid ground state. The spin-liquid state was originally proposed to exist in the parent compounds of the high temperature superconducting cuprates as originally proposed by Anderson. However, the lack of ideal samples have hampered experimental tests of the theories. A few years ago, a kagomé lattice material called herbertsmithite (ZnCu3(OH)6Cl2) has been successfully synthesized and studied. Since then, many experiments have been performed which have produced a lot of new guidance for our theoretical understanding of this frustrated magnetic system. However, single crystals are crucial for further progress. We have successfully produced high quality single crystals ZnCu3(OH)6Cl2 . These crystals are large enough for measurements, such as x-ray diffraction, magnetism, heat capacity, neutron scattering, thermal conductivity, muon-scattering and optical measurement. In this thesis, I will summarize the current state of knowledge for herbertsmithite and its family, the single crystal growth technique, and characterization of the resulting samples. A discussion of further directions of growth and measurement is at the end.
Description
Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Physics, 2010.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 67-69).
Subjects
Physics.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Terms of Use
M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.
Persistent DSpace Link
