Researchers modify magnetic behavior of exotic materials
People are not the only ones to be occasionally frustrated. Some crystals also show frustrations. They do so whenever their elementary magnets, the magnetic spins, cannot align properly. Cesium copper chloride (Cs2CuCl4) - or CCC for short—is a prime example of frustrated materials. In this crystal, the magnetic copper atoms reside on a triangular lattice and seek to align themselves antiparallel to each other. In a triangle, this does not work, however. This geometric frustration challenges physicists. After all, it promises the discovery of new magnetic phenomena that may even be used for quantum computers in the future. To better investigate and understand the underlying basics, physicists from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) in Germany, supported by Japanese and American colleagues, can now control the magnetic coupling using an elegant measuring method.