Investigation of magnetic correlations in the S=1/2 coupled trimer compound K2Cu3Ge4O12

The interacting S=1/2 trimer compounds are fascinating systems to experimentally study novel quantum phenomena of many body physics in condensed matter and to validate the theoretical proposals. Here, we propose a comprehensive powder neutron diffraction study on K2Cu3Ge4O12, a model interacting spin-1/2 AFM trimer compound, by using the WISH diffractometer to determine the ground state magnetic structure and temperature dependent spin-spin correlations down to 0.25 K. The results of the proposed experiment will shed light on the role of the weak intertrimer couplings (in 2D for K2Cu3Ge4O12) on the magnetic ground state and will be compared with the same for the sister compound Na2Cu3Ge4O12 having 1D interacting trimers. The outcome of the proposed study would be helpful for a validation of the theoretical proposals for the magnetic ground states of S = ½ trimer systems in general.