Spin ordering induced by lattice distortions in classical Heisenberg antiferromagnets on the breathing pyrochlore lattice

Abstract

We theoretically investigate effects of lattice distortions on the spin ordering of classical Heisenberg antiferromagnets on the breathing pyrochlore lattice. In the model, local lattice distortions originating from the site vibration are taken into account to yield effective spin interactions via the spin-lattice coupling (SLC). The breathing lattice-alternation is characterized by the ratio of the nearest-neighbor interaction for large tetrahedra to that for small ones, J'/J. It is found by Monte Carlo simulations that the system exhibits a first-order transition into four different types of collinear magnetic ordered states. In the uniform case (J'/J=1), the state realized at stronger SLC is cubic-symmetric characterized by the (1/2,1/2,1/2) magnetic Bragg peaks, while the one at weaker SLC is tetragonal-symmetric characterized by the (1,1,0) ones. With increasing the breathing distortion (decreasing J'/J), the ordering pattern of the (1/2,1/2,1/2) state becomes non-cubic with its magnetic Bragg reflections almost unchanged, while the (1,1,0) state is robust. The non-cubic state peculiar to the breathing pyrochlores is further categorized into two types. We demonstrate that these two non-cubic orderings result in the massive degeneracy of the ground state and that the associated residual entropy per spin takes characteristic values of k_B ln(4)/16 and k_B ln(6)/16. Experimental implications of the results are discussed.