We present a comprehensive experimental and theoretical study of the electronic and magnetic properties of two quasi-two-dimensional (2D) honeycomb-lattice monoclinic compounds A 3 Ni 2 SbO 6 (A=Li, Na). Magnetic susceptibility and specific heat data are consistent with the onset of antiferromagnetic (AFM) long range order at low temperatures with Néel temperatures ~ 14 and 16 K for Li 3 Ni 2 SbO 6 and Na 3 Ni 2 SbO 6 , respectively. The effective magnetic moments of 4.3  B /f.u. (Li 3 Ni 2 SbO 6 ) and 4.4  B /f.u. (Na 3 Ni 2 SbO 6 ) indicate that Ni 2+ is in a high-spin configuration (S=1). The temperature dependence of the inverse magnetic susceptibility follows the Curie-Weiss law in the high-temperature region and shows positive values of the Weiss temperature ~ 8 K (Li 3 Ni 2 SbO 6 ) and ~12 K (Na 3 Ni 2 SbO 6 ) pointing to the presence of nonnegligible ferromagnetic interactions, although the system orders AFM at low temperatures. In addition, the magnetization curves reveal a field-induced (spin-flop type) transition below T N that can be related to the magnetocrystalline anisotropy in these systems. These observations are in agreement with density functional theory calculations, which show that both antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic intralayer spin exchange couplings between Ni 2+ ions are present in the honeycomb planes supporting a zigzag antiferromagnetic ground state. Based on our experimental measurements and theoretical calculations we propose magnetic phase diagrams for the two compounds. 75.30.Kz; 75.10.Dg; 75.30.Gw; 75.30.Et

We report the structural, magnetic and thermodynamic properties of the double perovskite compound La 2 CuIrO 6 from X-ray, neutron diffraction, neutron depolarization, dc magnetization, ac susceptibility, specific heat, muon-spin-relaxation (µSR), electron-spin-resonance (ESR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements. Below ∼ 113 K, short-range spin-spin correlations occur within the Cu 2+ sublattice. With decreasing temperature, the Ir 4+ sublattice progressively involves in the correlation process. Below T = 74 K, the magnetic sublattices of Cu (spin s = 1 2 ) and Ir (pseudospin j = 1 2 ) in La 2 CuIrO 6 are strongly coupled and exhibit an antiferromagnetic phase transition into a non-collinear magnetic structure accompanied by a small uncompensated transverse moment. A weak anomaly in ac-susceptibility as well as in the NMR and µSR spin lattice relaxation rates at 54 K is interpreted as a cooperative ordering of the transverse moments which is influenced by the strong spin-orbit coupled 5d ion Ir 4+ . We argue that the rich magnetic behavior observed in La 2 CuIrO 6 is related to complex magnetic interactions between the strongly correlated spin-only 3d ions with the strongly spin-orbit coupled 5d transition ions where a combination of the spin-orbit coupling and the low-symmetry of the crystal lattice plays a special role for the spin structure in the magnetically ordered state.

Modern theories of quantum magnetism predict exotic multipolar states in weakly interacting strongly frustrated spin-1/2 Heisenberg chains with ferromagnetic nearest neighbor (NN) inchain exchange in high magnetic fields. Experimentally these states remained elusive so far. Here we report strong indications of a magnetic field-induced nematic liquid arising above a field of ~13 T in the edge-sharing chain cuprate LiSbCuO4 ≡ LiCuSbO4. This interpretation is based on the observation of a field induced spin-gap in the measurements of the 7Li NMR spin relaxation rate T 1 −1 as well as a contrasting field-dependent power-law behavior of T 1 −1 vs. T and is further supported by static magnetization and ESR data. An underlying theoretical microscopic approach favoring a nematic scenario is based essentially on the NN XYZ exchange anisotropy within a model for frustrated spin-1/2 chains and is investigated by the DMRG technique. The employed exchange parameters are justified qualitatively by electronic structure calculations for LiCuSbO4.