Metamagnetic phase transition of the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg icosahedron.
The observation of hysteresis effects in single molecule magnets like Mn12-acetate has initiated ideas of future applications in storage technology. The appearance of a hysteresis loop in such compounds is an outcome of their magnetic anisotropy. In this Letter we report that magnetic hysteresis occurs in a spin system without any anisotropy, specifically where spins mounted on the vertices of an icosahedron are coupled by antiferromagnetic isotropic nearest-neighbor Heisenberg interaction giving rise to geometric frustration. At T = 0 this system undergoes a first-order metamagnetic phase transition at a critical field Bc between two distinct families of ground state configurations. The metastable phase of the system is characterized by a temperature and field dependent survival probability distribution.
Schröder
Christian
C
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Applied Sciences Bielefeld, D-33602 Bielefeld, Germany. schroder@ameslab.gov
Schmidt
Heinz-Jürgen
HJ
Schnack
Jürgen
J
Luban
Marshall
M