Hidden order in spin-liquid Gd 3 Ga 5 O 12

Abstract

Elucidating order within disorder In some materials, the geometry of the crystal lattice gets in the way of magnetic ordering. Their spins, although magnetically interacting, remain seemingly disordered and form a so-called spin liquid. Paddison et al. propose a different model for the spin-liquid compound Gd 3 Ga 5 O 12 . Neutron diffraction measurements and numerical techniques revealed that even though individual spins in this material were disordered, they formed 10-spin loops that were correlated with one another. The nature of this “hidden order” was such that it escaped direct detection by conventional techniques Science , this issue p. 179