Field evolution of the multi-k magnetic states in NdB4 revealed by neutron diffraction
Abstract
We investigate the magnetic states of the Shastry-Sutherland-lattice magnet NdB4 using single-crystal neutron diffraction. We focus on magnetic fields applied along the tetragonal c axis, which stabilise the fractional 1/5~magnetisation plateau. In the low-temperature phase below 4.9 K, the transition into the plateau state at approximately 12 kOe is marked by a change in the propagation vectors from $(1/5,0,-2/5)$ and its double $(2/5,0,1/5)$ to $(0,0,1/5)$ and $(0,0,2/5)$. At the transition from the plateau to a nominally `field-polarised' state near 33 kOe, all magnetic reflections associated with non-integer propagation vectors disappear, whereas reflections corresponding to the k=0 component persist throughout the entire field range. We conclude that that the in-plane components survive even in the high-field phase and that the polarisation is, in fact, incomplete. The observed field dependence provides direct support for a description of NdB4 in terms of two coupled magnetic instabilities: all-in-all-out order of the in-plane moments and a spin-density wave of the out-of-plane components.
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BibTeX
@misc{brunt2026field,
title = {{Field evolution of the multi-$k$ magnetic states in NdB$_4$ revealed by neutron diffraction}},
author = {D. Brunt and N. Qureshi and E. Chan and B. Ouladdiaf and G. Balakrishnan and D. D. Khalyavin and O. A. Petrenko},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2611.06526},
eprint = {2611.06526},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.06526},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Field evolution of the multi-k magnetic states in NdB_4 revealed by neutron diffraction
AU - D. Brunt
AU - N. Qureshi
AU - E. Chan
AU - B. Ouladdiaf
AU - G. Balakrishnan
AU - D. D. Khalyavin
AU - O. A. Petrenko
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/04
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2611.06526
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.06526
AB - We investigate the magnetic states of the Shastry-Sutherland-lattice magnet NdB_4 using single-crystal neutron diffraction. We focus on magnetic fields applied along the tetragonal c axis, which stabilise the fractional 1/5~magnetisation plateau. In the low-temperature phase below 4.9 K, the transition into the plateau state at approximately 12 kOe is marked by a change in the propagation vectors from $(1/5,0,-2/5)$ and its double $(2/5,0,1/5)$ to $(0,0,1/5)$ and $(0,0,2/5)$. At the transition from the plateau to a nominally `field-polarised' state near 33 kOe, all magnetic reflections associated with non-integer propagation vectors disappear, whereas reflections corresponding to the k=0 component persist throughout the entire field range. We conclude that that the in-plane components survive even in the high-field phase and that the polarisation is, in fact, incomplete. The observed field dependence provides direct support for a description of NdB_4 in terms of two coupled magnetic instabilities: all-in-all-out order of the in-plane moments and a spin-density wave of the out-of-plane components.
ER -