Frustrated magnets are materials in which localized magnetic moments, or spins, interact through competing exchange interactions that cannot be simultaneously satisfied, giving rise to a large degeneracy of the system ground state. Under certain conditions, this can lead to the formation of fluid-like states of matter, so-called spin liquids, in which the constituent spins are highly correlated but still fluctuate strongly down to a temperature of absolute zero. The fluctuations of the spins in a spin liquid can be classical or quantum and show remarkable collective phenomena such as emergent gauge fields and fractional particle excitations. This exotic behaviour is now being uncovered in the laboratory, providing insight into the properties of spin liquids and challenges to the theoretical description of these materials.

Spin liquids in frustrated magnets

Energy production and storage have become key issues concerning our welfare in daily life. Present challenges for batteries are twofold. In the first place, the increasing demand for powering systems of portable electronic devices and zero-emission vehicles stimulates research towards high energy and high voltage systems. In the second place, low cost batteries are required in order to advance towards smart electric grids that integrate discontinuous energy flow from renewable sources, optimizing the performance of clean energy sources. Na-ion batteries can be the key for the second point, because of the huge availability of sodium, its low price and the similarity of both Li and Na insertion chemistries. In spite of the lower energy density and voltage of Na-ion based technologies, they can be focused on applications where the weight and footprint requirement is less drastic, such as electrical grid storage. Much work has to be done in the field of Na-ion in order to catch up with Li-ion technology. Cathodic and anodic materials must be optimized, and new electrolytes will be the key point for Na-ion success. This review will gather the up-to-date knowledge about Na-ion battery materials, with the aim of providing a wide view of the systems that have already been explored and a starting point for the new research on this battery technology.

Na-ion batteries, recent advances and present challenges to become low cost energy storage systems

In this chapter, we will restrict our attention to the ferrites and a few other closely related materials. The great interest in ferrites stems from their unique combination of a spontaneous magnetization and a high electrical resistivity. The observed magnetization results from the difference in the magnetizations of two non-equivalent sub-lattices of the magnetic ions in the crystal structure. Materials of this type should strictly be designated as “ferrimagnetic” and in some respects are more closely related to anti-ferromagnetic substances than they are to ferromagnetics in which the magnetization results from the parallel alignment of all the magnetic moments present. We shall not adhere to this special nomenclature except to emphasize effects, which are due to the existence of the sub-lattices.

Ferromagnetic materials

Transparent conductors as solar energy materials: A panoramic review

A frustrated system is one whose symmetry precludes the possibility that every pairwise interaction (“bond”) in the system can be satisfied at the same time. Such systems are common in all areas of physical and biological science. In the most extreme cases, they can have a disordered ground state with “macroscopic” degeneracy; that is, one that comprises a huge number of equivalent states of the same energy. Pauling9s description of the low-temperature proton disorder in water ice was perhaps the first recognition of this phenomenon and remains the paradigm. In recent years, a new class of magnetic substance has been characterized, in which the disorder of the magnetic moments at low temperatures is precisely analogous to the proton disorder in water ice. These substances, known as spin ice materials, are perhaps the “cleanest” examples of such highly frustrated systems yet discovered. They offer an unparalleled opportunity for the study of frustration in magnetic systems at both an experimental and a theoretical level. This article describes the essential physics of spin ice, as it is currently understood, and identifies new avenues for future research on related materials and models.

/pdf/spin-ice-state-in-frustrated-magnetic-pyrochlore-materials-1jowb6znr9.pdf

Spin ice state in frustrated magnetic pyrochlore materials.

Magnetic susceptibility, Cu NQR, and high-filed magnetization have been measured in polycrystalline $\mathrm{SrCu}{}_{2}(\mathrm{BO}{}_{3}{)}_{2}$ having a two-dimensional (2D) orthogonal network of Cu dimers. This cuprate provides a new class of 2D spin-gap system $(\ensuremath{\Delta}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}30\mathrm{K})$ in which the ground state can be solved ``exactly.'' Furthermore, in the magnetization, two plateaus corresponding to $\frac{1}{4}$ and $\frac{1}{8}$ of the full Cu moment were first observed for 2D quantum spin systems.

Exact Dimer Ground State and Quantized Magnetization Plateaus in the Two-Dimensional Spin System SrCu 2 ( BO 3 ) 2

Oxygen Nonstoichiometry, Structures, and Physical Properties of YBaCo2O5+x (0.00≤x≤0.52)

We performed inelastic neutron scattering on the 2D Shastry-Sutherland system SrCu2(11BO3)2 with an exact dimer ground state. Three energy levels at around 3, 5, and 9 meV were observed at 1.7 K. The lowest excitation at 3.0 meV is almost dispersionless with a bandwidth of 0.2 meV at most, showing a significant constraint on a single-triplet hopping owing to the orthogonality of the neighboring dimers. In contrast, the correlated two-triplet excitations at 5 meV exhibit a more dispersive behavior.

Direct evidence for the localized single-triplet excitations and the dispersive multitriplet excitations in SrCu2(BO3)2.

We report the discovery of a new superconducting phase in highly correlated 3d electron systems. The compound is beta-vanadium bronze, beta- Na0.33V 2O5, in which the charge-ordered phase collapses under hydrostatic high pressure and a pressure-induced superconducting phase appears around T(S C)=8 K, P=8 GPa. This report presents the first observation not only of superconductivity in vanadium oxides but also of a phase transition from charge ordered to superconducting on a pressure-temperature (P- T) plane. The phase diagrams seem to have universal aspects across the classes of materials. This indicates a profound physics of superconductivity in highly correlated electron systems.

Y. Ueda

Papers

Exact Dimer Ground State and Quantized Magnetization Plateaus in the Two-Dimensional Spin System SrCu 2 ( BO 3 ) 2

Oxygen Nonstoichiometry, Structures, and Physical Properties of YBaCo2O5+x (0.00≤x≤0.52)

Direct evidence for the localized single-triplet excitations and the dispersive multitriplet excitations in SrCu2(BO3)2.

Pressure-induced superconductivity in beta- Na (0.33) V(2)O(5) beyond charge ordering.

A revisit of photoluminescence property for vanadate oxides AVO3 (A:K, Rb and Cs) and M3V2O8 (M:Mg and Zn)