Cs₂Fe₂(MoO₄)₃─A Strongly Frustrated Magnet with Orbital Degrees of Freedom and Magnetocaloric Properties

Abstract

We report an in-depth study of the thermodynamic and magnetocaloric properties of a strongly frustrated magnet, Cs 2 Fe 2 (MoO 4 ) 3 . The underlying structure belongs to the double trillium lattice, which consists of two Fe II (S = 2) sites with easyaxis and easy-plane single-ion anisotropy. Detailed 57 Fe Mossbauer spectroscopic investigations along with ligand-field calculations support the existence of disparate ground states. The antiferromagnetic ordered structure is presented by the propagation vector k = (0,0,0) with noncollinear magnetic moments of 2.97 μ B (Fe1) and 0.17 μ B (Fe2), respectively. Strong and disordered magnetic correlations exist in the temperature regime between T N ≈ 1.0 K and |θ CW | ≈ 22 K. The large degeneracy of the ground state is investigated in terms of its magnetocaloric response. Magnetization and specific heat measurements indicate a significant magnetocaloric cooling efficiency, making this rareearth-free compound a promising candidate for cryogenic magnetic refrigeration applications, with refrigeration capacity of 79 J kg −1 for Δ(μ 0 H) = 8 T.