ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

LF Musr Study of Magnetic Phases and Spin Dynamics in a Shastry-Sutherland Quantum Magnet

Abstract: In 2D magnetic compounds, the Shastry-Sutherland lattice (SSL): a square lattice with antiferromagnetic exchange J between dimerized nearest neighbours and J? between next-nearest-neighbours, has attracted attention due to its complex phase diagram, displaying a variety of novel phases as function of magnetic field. The 2D SSL model, consisting of an orthogonal dimer network of spin S=1/2 units, represents one of the very few topologies where the ground state of a geometrical frustrated lattice could be exactly solved. Previous experimental realizations of the SSL model such as SrCu2(BO3)2 (SCBO) exhibit multiple magnetization plateaus at fractional values, but the critical fields have previously been much too large for muSR studies. Lately, a new rare-earth SSL compound Er2Be2GeO7 (EBGO) with weaker interactions than SCBO was found to show magnetization plateaus with critical fields below 1T, giving the first opportunity for muSR to provide a local probe study of the magnetic properties of the SSL lattice. Our initial muSR study of EGBO in March 2025 found clear signatures of the transitions between magnetization plateaus. In addition to observing transitions between known plateaus at fractions ¼ and ½, an additional low-field transition was revealed between the 0 and ¼ states. This continuation study will complete the measurements, determining the transition temperature for this new phase, which must be below 0.3K, based on previous data for magnetization and specific heat.

Experimenter: Professor Stephen Blundell
Local Contact: Dr Francis Pratt
Experimenter: Dr Benjamin Huddart
Experimenter: Professor Sara Haravifard

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2520342

ISIS Experiment Number: RB2520342

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Professor Stephen Blundell et al; (2026): LF Musr Study of Magnetic Phases and Spin Dynamics in a Shastry-Sutherland Quantum Magnet, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2520342

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.