Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Condensed-matter physics

Magnetic frustration squeezed out

Atomic spins in a 'frustrated' magnet cannot simultaneously minimize the energies of their local interactions: they fluctuate continuously, even at very low temperatures. But under pressure, they line up in an ordered way.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Frustrated spins.
Figure 2: Lattices of frustration.

References

  1. Mirebeau, I. et al. Nature 420, 54–57 (2002).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Ramirez, A. P. in Handbook of Magnetic Materials (ed. Buschow, K. J. H.) 423–520 (New Holland, New York, 2001).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Taguchi, Y. et al. Science 291, 2573–2576 (2001).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Gardner, J. S. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 211–214 (1999).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Snyder, J., Slusky, J. S., Cava, R. J. & Schiffer, P. Nature 413, 48–51 (2001).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Harris, M. J., Bramwell, S. T., McMorrow, D. F., Zeiske, T. & Godfrey, K. W. Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 2554–2557 (1997).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Ramirez, A. P. et al. Nature 399, 333–335 (1999).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Bramwell, S. T. & Gingras, M. J. P. Science 294, 1495–1501 (2001).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Moessner, R. & Chalker, J. T. Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 2929–2932 (1998).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Harris, M. J., Zinkin, M. P., Tun, Z., Wanklyn, B. M. & Swainson, I. P. Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 189–192 (1994).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Gardner, J. S. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 1012–1015 (1999).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Gardner, J. S. et al. Phys. Rev. B 64, 224416 (2001).

  13. Tsui, Y. K., Burns, C. A., Snyder, J. & Schiffer, P. Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 3532–3535 (1999).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Broholm, C., Aeppli, G., Espinosa, G. P. & Cooper, A. S. Phys. Rev. Lett. 65, 3173–3176 (1990).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Dunsiger, S. R. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 3504–3507 (2000).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter Schiffer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Schiffer, P. Magnetic frustration squeezed out. Nature 420, 35–38 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/420035a

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/420035a

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing