Rare earth pyrochlore magnets, with the chemical formula R2M2O7, hold an important position in the field of quantum magnetism. The rare earth atoms, R, in this crystal structure sit on a network of corner sharing tetrahedra, which generally does not facilitate magnetic order due to strong geometric frustration. In addition to intrinsic frustration, the rare earth atoms themselves can take the full range of spin anisotropies from Ising to XY to Heisenberg, which strongly influence the exotic phases that emerge. In this journal club talk I will introduce the key aspects of the pyrochlore lattice and how, experimentally, we can determine the spin anisotropy for a given rare earth with inelastic neutron scattering. I will introduce experimentally relevant phase diagrams for each of the three spin anisotropies and show how phase competition and competing orders naturally emerge in these materials.

link to talk: https://play.library.utoronto.ca/play/ed68bf0920f19d87f25ec3f0d335ae98