CANADIAN: Studying the role of breathing degrees of freedom in the magnetic properties of breathing pyrochlores

Breathing pyrochlores exhibit a unique combination of bond alternation and geometrical frustration, which allows them to host exotic phenomena. We propose studying the effect of the breathing ratio (ratio of sizes of Cr tetrahedra) on the magnetic properties of breathing pyrochlores through the study of Ga1.33Cr4S8, which can be synthesized in two polymorphs, breathing, and normal pyrochlore, depending on the synthesis conditions. The breathing phase, α-Ga1.33Cr4S8, shows dominant antiferromagnetic interactions, whereas the normal pyrochlore phase, β-Ga1.33Cr4S8, shows dominant ferromagnetic interaction through the curie-weiss fit of the magnetic susceptibility data. Both compounds show complex magnetism with transitions at 20 K and 30 K in α and β phases, respectively. Neutron diffraction experiments can help us in solving the magnetic structures of these materials and the role of breathing nature in the difference of the properties.