Magnetic state selected by magnetic dipole interaction in the kagome antiferromagnet NaBa2Mn3F11

Abstract

We haved studied the ground state of the classical kagome antiferromagnet NaBa2Mn3F11. Strong magnetic Bragg peaks observed for d spacings shorter than 6.0 Å were indexed by the propagation vector of k0=(0,0,0). Additional peaks with weak intensities in the d-spacing range above 8.0 Å were indexed by the incommensurate vector of k1=[0.3209(2),0.3209(2),0] and k2=[0.3338(4),0.3338(4),0]. Magnetic structure analysis unveils a 120∘ structure with the tail-chase geometry having k0 modulated by the incommensurate vector. A classical calculation of the Heisenberg kagome antiferromagnet with antiferromagnetic second-neighbor interaction, for which the ground state a k0120∘ degenerated structure, reveals that the magnetic dipole-dipole (MDD) interaction including up to the fourth neighbor terms selects the tail-chase structure. The observed modulation of the tail-chase structure is attributed to a small perturbation such as the long-range MDD interaction or the interlayer interaction. ©2018 American Physical Society