Quadrupole order in the frustrated pyrochlore magnet Tb2Ti2O7

Abstract

We have studied the hidden long-range order (LRO) of the frustrated pyrochlore magnet Tb2Ti2O7 by means of specific-heat experiments and Monte-Carlo (MC) simulations, which has been discussed as the LRO of quadrupole moments inherent to the non-Kramers ion of Tb3+. We have found that the sharp specific-heat peak is collapsed into a broad hump by magnetic fields above 0.3 T for H//[001]. This result, qualitatively reproduced by MC simulations, suggests that a field-induced magnetic state overcomes the quadrupolar LRO state, as a similar case of a classical spin ice. The present results support the interpretation that Tb2+xTi2-xO7+y is a unique material in the boundary between the quadrupolar (x >= x(c) = -0.0025) and spin-liquid (x <= x(c)) states, where the magnetic field along the [001] axis is a tuning parameter which induces the magnetic ordered state.