Spin-phonon induced magnetic order in the kagome ice

Abstract

We study the effects of lattice deformations on the kagome spin ice, with Ising spins coupled by nearest-neighbor exchange and long-range dipolar interactions, in the presence of in-plane magnetic fields. We describe the lattice energy according to the Einstein model, where each site distortion is treated independently. Upon integration of lattice degrees of freedom, effective quadratic spin interactions arise. Classical Monte Carlo simulations are performed on the resulting model, retaining up to third neighbor interactions, under different directions of the magnetic field. We find that as the effect of the deformation is increased, a rich plateau structure appears in the magnetization curves.