Magnetic ground state and perturbations of the distorted kagome Ising metal TmAgGe

Abstract

We present the magnetic orders and excitations of the distorted kagome intermetallic magnet TmAgGe. Using neutron single crystal diffraction we identify the propagation vectors k = ( 12 0 0) and k = (0 0 0) and determine the magnetic structures of the zero-field and magnetic field-induced phases for H along the a and [−110] crystal directions. We determine the experimental magnetic field- temperature (H, T )-phase diagram and reproduce it by Monte-Carlo simulations of an effective spin exchange Hamiltonian for one distorted kagome layer. Our model includes a strong axial single-ion anisotropy and significantly smaller exchange couplings which span up to the third-nearest neighbours within the layer. Single crystal inelastic neutron scattering (INS) measurements reveal an almost flat, only weakly dispersive mode around 7 meV that we use alongside bulk magnetization data to deduce the crystal-electric field (CEF) scheme for the Tm3+ ions. Random phase approximation (RPA) calculations based on the determined CEF wave functions of the two lowest quasi-doublets enable an estimation of the interlayer coupling that is compatible with the experimental INS spectra. No evidence for low-energy spin waves associated to the magnetic order was found, which is consistent with the strongly Ising nature of the ground state.