Magnetic order in honeycomb layered UPtGa studied by resonant X-ray and neutron scattering

田端 千紘; 今 布咲子*; 太田 玖吾*; 日比野 瑠央*; 松本 裕司*; 網塚 浩*; 中尾 裕則*; 芳賀 芳範; 金子 耕士

Physical Review B, 109(13), p.134403_1 - 134403_7, 2024/04

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.109.134403

Antiferromagnetic (AF) order of UPtGa with the ordering temperature = 26 K was investigated by resonant X-ray scattering and neutron diffraction on single crystals. This compound possesses a unique crystal structure in which uranium ions form honeycomb layers and then stacks along the c-axis with slight offset, which gives rise to a stacking disorder. The AF order can be described with the propagation vector of q = (1/6, 1/6, 0) in the hexagonal notation. The ordered magnetic moments orient perpendicular to the honeycomb layers, indicating a collinear spin structure consistent with Ising-like anisotropy. The magnetic reflections are found to be broadened along c indicating that the stacking disorder results in anisotropic correlation lengths. The semiquantitative analysis of neutron diffraction intensity, combined with group theory considerations based on the crystallographic symmetry, suggests a zig-zag type magnetic structure for the AF ground state, in which the AF coupling runs perpendicular to the stacking offset, characterized as q = (1, 0, 0). The realization of the zig-zag magnetic structure implies the presence of frustrating intralayer exchange interactions involving both ferromagnetic (FM) first-neighbor and AF second and third-neighbor interactions in this compound.