Spin-orbit-entangled frustrated magnetism in fcc Ba2(Yb,Nd)NbO6 double perovskites
Abstract
The search for candidate Kitaev materials has largely focused on 4d and 5d transition-metal compounds with various lattice geometries. In contrast, investigations of rare-earth 4f systems have thus far been restricted mainly to honeycomb and triangular lattices. In this work, we investigate the rare-earth-based double perovskites Ba2YbNbO6 and Ba2NdNbO6, which crystallize in a face-centered cubic structure. Magnetization and heat-capacity measurements establish isolated jeff = 1/2 Kramers doublet ground states arising from strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and crystal electric-field effects, which are further supported by density-functional theory calculations. Millikelvin-temperature thermodynamic measurements reveal long-range magnetic order with moderate frustration in both compounds. The emergence of magnetic order may be understood within an order-by-disorder scenario, as theoretically proposed for rare-earth fcc lattices with finite Kitaev interactions. Our results thus identify Ba2YbNbO6 and Ba2NdNbO6 as promising rare-earth spin-orbit-entangled magnets and motivate further experimental and theoretical investigations aimed at determining the complete exchange tensor to elucidate the microscopic origin of the underlying magnetic interactions.
Versions
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BibTeX
@misc{hossain2026spinorbitentangled,
title = {{Spin-orbit-entangled frustrated magnetism in fcc Ba$_2$(Yb,Nd)NbO$_6$ double perovskites}},
author = {S. M. Hossain and Sk. Soyeb Ali and S. Mohanty and R. Kolay and M. P. Saravanan and A. K. Yogi and Y. Tokiwa and R. Nath and S. K. Panda and M. Majumder},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2608.01022},
eprint = {2608.01022},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.01022},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Spin-orbit-entangled frustrated magnetism in fcc Ba_2(Yb,Nd)NbO_6 double perovskites
AU - S. M. Hossain
AU - Sk. Soyeb Ali
AU - S. Mohanty
AU - R. Kolay
AU - M. P. Saravanan
AU - A. K. Yogi
AU - Y. Tokiwa
AU - R. Nath
AU - S. K. Panda
AU - M. Majumder
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/02
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2608.01022
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.01022
AB - The search for candidate Kitaev materials has largely focused on 4d and 5d transition-metal compounds with various lattice geometries. In contrast, investigations of rare-earth 4f systems have thus far been restricted mainly to honeycomb and triangular lattices. In this work, we investigate the rare-earth-based double perovskites Ba_2YbNbO_6 and Ba_2NdNbO_6, which crystallize in a face-centered cubic structure. Magnetization and heat-capacity measurements establish isolated j_eff = 1/2 Kramers doublet ground states arising from strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and crystal electric-field effects, which are further supported by density-functional theory calculations. Millikelvin-temperature thermodynamic measurements reveal long-range magnetic order with moderate frustration in both compounds. The emergence of magnetic order may be understood within an order-by-disorder scenario, as theoretically proposed for rare-earth fcc lattices with finite Kitaev interactions. Our results thus identify Ba_2YbNbO_6 and Ba_2NdNbO_6 as promising rare-earth spin-orbit-entangled magnets and motivate further experimental and theoretical investigations aimed at determining the complete exchange tensor to elucidate the microscopic origin of the underlying magnetic interactions.
ER -