β-Mn: emergent simplicity in a complex structure

Abstract

We investigate low-temperature spin correlations in the metallic frustrated magnet β-MnCo. Single-crystal polarised-neutron scattering experiments reveal the persistence of highly-structured magnetic diffuse scattering and the absence of periodic magnetic order to T = 0.05 K. We employ reverse Monte Carlo refinements and mean-field theory simulations to construct a simple effective Hamiltonian which accounts for the magnetic scattering. The interactions we identify describe an emergent spin structure which mimics the triangular lattice antiferromagnet. The observation of a simple collective magnetic state in a complicated crystal structure is surprising because it reverses the established paradigm of elaborate emergent states arising from many-body interactions on simple lattices. We suggest that structural complexity may provide a route to realising new states of correlated quantum matter.