Magnetic-field induced melting of long-range magnetic order akin to Kitaev insulators in the metallic compound Tb5Si3

There have been constant efforts to find 'exotic' quantum spin-liquid (QSL) materials. Some of the transition metal insulators dominated by the direction-dependent anisotropic exchange interaction ('Kitaev model' for honeycomb network of magnetic ions) are considered to be promising cases for the same. In such Kitaev insulators, QSL is achieved from the zero-field antiferromagnetic state by the application of magnetic-field, suppressing other exchange interactions responsible for magnetic order. Here, we show that the features attributable to long-range magnetic ordering of the intermetallic compound, Tb5Si3, (T (N) = 69 K), containing honey-comb network of Tb ions, are completely suppressed by a critical applied field, H (cr), in heat-capacity and magnetization data, mimicking the behavior of Kitaev physics candidates. The neutron diffraction patterns as a function of H reveal that it is an incommensurate magnetic structure that gets suppressed, showing peaks arising from multiple wave vectors beyond H (cr). Increasing magnetic entropy as a function of H with a peak in the magnetically ordered state is in support of some kind of magnetic disorder in a narrow field range after H (cr). Such a high-field behavior for a metallic heavy rare-earth system to our knowledge has not been reported in the past and therefore is intriguing.

Automated summary

A compound containing Tb ions, Tb5Si3, with a honeycomb network of Tb ions, shows complete suppression of the features attributable to long-range magnetic ordering by a critical applied field, mimicking the behavior of Kitaev physics candidates.