Specific heat of kagome ice in the pyrochlore oxide DY2Ti2O7

A novel macroscopically degenerate state called kagome ice, which was recently found in a spin ice compound Dy2Ti2O7 in a magnetic field applied along the [111] direction of the cubic unit cell, is studied by specific heat measurements. The residual entropy of the kagome ice is estimated to be 0.65 J/K mol Dy, which is nearly 40% of that for the tetrahedral spin ice obtained in a zero field (1.68 J/K mol Dy) and is in good agreement with a theoretical prediction. It is also reported that the kagome ice state, which is stabilized at a range of magnetic field of 0.3-0.6 T, is a gas phase and condenses into a liquid phase with nearly zero entropy at a critical field of 1T.