Investigation of Structural and Magnetic Properties of Kagomé-Lattice Metals RT₆Ge₆

Gerald Ciani, Milo Adams, Michael Shatruk

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306

Kagomé-lattice materials have garnered substantial interest for their unconventional magnetic and electronic behavior arising due to spin frustration between magnetic moments placed on a lattice of vertex-sharing equilateral triangles. Such properties as non-collinear magnetic ordering – even the lack thereof – and combinations of localized and delocalized electronic states make kagomé systems interesting for future technological applications in spintronic devices, topological quantum computing, and magnetic storage. Lanthanide (Ln) – transition metal (T) germanides with the RT₆Ge₆ stoichiometry possess either ideal or slightly distorted kagomé planes of magnetic T elements, providing ample opportunity to realize intriguing new magnetic and electronic phenomena. Here, we investigate the evolution of properties in GdT₆Ge₆ where T = Mn, Fe, or Co. Theoretical calculations and physical characterization of the crystal structures and magnetic properties have suggested that it should be possible to generate ferromagnetic states in this series of compounds by varying the valence electron count through substitution of the T atoms. We provide our initial findings relevant to these ideas and discuss future directions of this project.