Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 247201 (2004) [4 pages]Competing Magnetic Phases on a Kagomé StaircaseReceived 12 July 2004; published 7 December 2004 We present thermodynamic and neutron data on Ni3V2O8, a spin-1 system on a kagomé staircase. The extreme degeneracy of the kagomé antiferromagnet is lifted to produce two incommensurate phases at finite T—one amplitude modulated, the other helical—plus a commensurate canted antiferromagnet for T→0. The H-T phase diagram is described by a model of competing first and second neighbor interactions with smaller anisotropic terms. Ni3V2O8 thus provides an elegant example of order from subleading interactions in a highly frustrated system. © 2004 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.247201
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.247201
PACS:
75.10.Jm, 75.25.+z, 75.30.Kz
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