Synthesis, structural and magnetic characterization of polycrystalline Yb2Ti2O7

The discovery of the Yb2Ti2O7 is among the most significant findings in magnetic materials in over a decade. The spin-ice model is based on an ingenious analogy to Pauling’s model of geometrical frustration in water ice, which is confirmed by various experiments. Here we present the characteristics of Yb2Ti2O7 studied by X-ray diffraction and magnetic measurements. Polycrystalline sample of Yb2Ti2O7 was prepared by sol-gel synthesis followed by thermal annealing at 1400 ° C for 36 hours. We calculated the change in the magnetic entropy from isothermal magnetization curves. We find no evidence of plateau at Pauling residual entropy. Temperature dependence of the inverse magnetic susceptibility reveals Curie-Wiess temperature Θcw = 156mK and paramagnetic moment μeff ≈ 3.58 µB, indicating weak ferromagnetic interaction. Using Arrott plot we conclude that Yb2Ti2O7 possibly enters a magnetic ground state below Tc~140 mK.