Magnetic studies of monoclinic Cu₄O(SeO₃)₃, a copper-oxo-selenite derivative

Abstract

Cu4O(SeO3)3 is a copper-oxo-selenite belonging to the CuxO(SeO3)(x–1) family of the topological chiral magnet Cu2OSeO3. We report magnetometry and specific heat data measured in a monoclinic Cu4O(SeO3)3 single crystal grown through a Chemical Vapour Transport (CVT) reaction. Our study shows a typical antiferromagnetic behaviour, with a Néel temperature TN = 58 K, similar to that of the Cu2OSeO3 and an additional transition at 13 K. The effective magnetic moment per Cu atom is 1.84 μB, close to the expected theoretical value for Cu2+. The low-temperature M(H) curves, show a transition starting at Hc1 ~ 400 Oe at 1.8 K shifting to a lower value of ~ 280 Oe at 30 K, likely from a helical into a conical intermediate phase, and a second transition at Hc2 ~ 1 kOe, above which the net moment increases linearly with applied field. The magnetisation moment value in a 90 kOe field is 0.053 μB/Cu at 1.8 K and attains a maximum value of 0.061 μB at 13 K. Low-temperature specific heat measurements confirm the presence of the magnetic transition at 13 K, slightly shifting to lower temperatures under an applied magnetic field.