Lattice symmetry breaking and strain control of single-q magnetism in Na3Co2SbO6
Abstract
Distinguishing single-q from multi-q magnetism constrains microscopic spin Hamiltonians. Here we determine the ground state of the candidate Kitaev magnet Na3Co2SbO6 through its coupling to the lattice. High-resolution neutron diffraction reveals a spontaneous monoclinic-to-triclinic distortion at the magnetic transition, in contrast to the absence of detectable lattice-symmetry breaking in triple-q Na2Co2TeO6. Together with strain-selective magnetic responses, this identifies single-q order in Na3Co2SbO6 over the proposed symmetry-preserving double-q state. Uniaxial compression along a low-symmetry in-plane direction achieves the domain selection that magnetic-field training could not, revealing the intrinsic field-induced phase boundaries of the dominant domain. These results establish strain as a symmetry-conjugate field for magnetic domains and highlight magnetoelastic coupling as a route to diagnose, manipulate, and potentially tune magnetic states.
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BibTeX
@misc{gu2026lattice,
title = {{Lattice symmetry breaking and strain control of single-$\mathbfq$ magnetism in Na$_3$Co$_2$SbO$_6$}},
author = {Yuchen Gu and Wu Xie and Xintong Li and Junhong Liu and Xianghong Jin and Dmitry Khalyavin and Fabio Orlandi and Pascal Manuel and Ping Miao and Yuan Li},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.27663},
eprint = {2610.27663},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.27663},
note = {CC BY-NC-SA 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Lattice symmetry breaking and strain control of single-q magnetism in Na_3Co_2SbO_6
AU - Yuchen Gu
AU - Wu Xie
AU - Xintong Li
AU - Junhong Liu
AU - Xianghong Jin
AU - Dmitry Khalyavin
AU - Fabio Orlandi
AU - Pascal Manuel
AU - Ping Miao
AU - Yuan Li
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/20
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.27663
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.27663
AB - Distinguishing single-q from multi-q magnetism constrains microscopic spin Hamiltonians. Here we determine the ground state of the candidate Kitaev magnet Na_3Co_2SbO_6 through its coupling to the lattice. High-resolution neutron diffraction reveals a spontaneous monoclinic-to-triclinic distortion at the magnetic transition, in contrast to the absence of detectable lattice-symmetry breaking in triple-q Na_2Co_2TeO_6. Together with strain-selective magnetic responses, this identifies single-q order in Na_3Co_2SbO_6 over the proposed symmetry-preserving double-q state. Uniaxial compression along a low-symmetry in-plane direction achieves the domain selection that magnetic-field training could not, revealing the intrinsic field-induced phase boundaries of the dominant domain. These results establish strain as a symmetry-conjugate field for magnetic domains and highlight magnetoelastic coupling as a route to diagnose, manipulate, and potentially tune magnetic states.
ER -