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Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 047205 (2001) [4 pages]

Spin Correlations in Ho2Ti2O7: A Dipolar Spin Ice System

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S. T. Bramwell1, M. J. Harris2, B. C. den Hertog3, M. J. P. Gingras3,4, J. S. Gardner5, D. F. McMorrow6, A. R. Wildes7, A. L. Cornelius8, J. D. M. Champion1, R. G. Melko3, and T. Fennell1
1Department of Chemistry, University College London, 20 Gordon Street, London WC1H OAJ, United Kingdom
2ISIS Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0QX, United Kingdom
3Department of Physics, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
4Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, 180 Dundas Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1Z8
5National Research Council, NPMR, Chalk River Laboratories, Chalk River, Ontario, Canada K0J 1J0
6Condensed Matter Physics and Chemistry Department, Risø National Laboratory, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark
7Institut Laue-Langevin, 156X, 38042 Grenoble Cedex, France
8Department of Physics, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada 89154-4002

Received 8 January 2001; published 10 July 2001

The pyrochlore material Ho2Ti2O7 has been suggested to show “spin ice” behavior. We present neutron scattering and specific heat results that establish unambiguously that Ho2Ti2O7 exhibits spin ice correlations at low temperature. Diffuse magnetic neutron scattering is quite well described by a nearest neighbor spin ice model and very accurately described by a dipolar spin ice model. The heat capacity is well accounted for by the sum of a dipolar spin ice contribution and an expected nuclear spin contribution, known to exist in other Ho3+ salts. These results settle the question of the nature of the low temperature spin correlations in Ho2Ti2O7 for which contradictory claims have been made.

© 2001 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.047205
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.047205
PACS:
75.50.-y, 75.25.+z, 75.40.Cx, 75.40.Mg
 
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