Pentagons magnetically frustrated, but still fairly well-organized

Magnetic frustration is a phenomenon resulting from competing constraints in a material, such as when an atom’s magnetic moments want to organize themselves in antiparallel pairs, but can’t due to their geometry. This causes matter to organize itself in complex fundamental states. Researchers have been studying magnetic frustration in triangles, for example, for decades.

In a world-first, researchers from Irig identified a pentagonal lattice of magnetic atoms, demonstrating that the magnetic moments in iron oxide atoms are organized at 90-degree angles to each other. In addition, this pentagonal lattice is organized around a pair of magnetic moments whose bond is stronger and, therefore, not as sensitive to variations in magnetic field or temperature. This pair controls the ordering of the magnetic moments, even in the presence of magnetic frustration.

Contact: eric.ressouche@cea.fr

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