title: Ground state of the easy-axis rare-earth kagome langasite Pr3Ga5SiO14.
abstract: We report muon spin relaxation and {69,71}Ga nuclear quadrupolar resonance local-probe investigations of the kagome compound Pr3Ga5SiO14. Small quasistatic random internal fields develop below 40 K and persist down to our base temperature of 21 mK. They originate from hyperfine-enhanced 141Pr nuclear magnetism which requires a nonmagnetic Pr3+ crystal-field (CF) ground state. In addition, we observe a broad maximum of the relaxation rate at approximately 10 K which we attribute to the population of the first excited magnetic CF level. Our results yield a Van Vleck paramagnet picture, at variance with the formerly proposed spin-liquid ground state.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, Université Paris-Sud 11, UMR CNRS 8502, 91405 Orsay, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zorko
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bert
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mendels
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Marty
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bordet