{"id":85094,"date":"2026-09-30T09:07:41","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T07:07:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\/?post_type=kb_presseinformation&#038;p=85094"},"modified":"2026-10-01T22:17:28","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T20:17:28","slug":"frustrated-more-frustrated-more-complicated","status":"publish","type":"kb_presseinformation","link":"https:\/\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\/en\/pi-post\/frustrated-more-frustrated-more-complicated\/","title":{"rendered":"Frustrated, more frustrated, more complicated"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"entry\">What is a fascinating mineral for collectors becomes a subject of study under extreme conditions for researchers: an international team, with Professor Stefan S\u00fcllow at the head of it, is investigating mineral samples at temperatures close to absolute zero and in strong magnetic fields. In doing so, the researchers are exploring how novel magnetic states arise and compete with one another. A recently published study now shows how an unusual competitive effect in the mineral clinoatacamite causes particularly strong magnetic disorder. Research into magnetically frustrated materials such as clinoatacamite and such unusual spin states could be of great significance in the future for quantum technology applications, particularly in the field of quantum computing. The study, in which Jochen Litterst, former president of TU Braunschweig, was also actively involved, has now been published by the researchers in the highly prestigious journal <em>Physical Review Letters<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The dark-green mineral clinoatacamite (Cu\u2082Cl(OH)\u2083) has a major problem from a magnetic point of view: it is frustrated. The exchange couplings between the spins of the magnetic ions \u2013 a kind of angular momentum \u2013 do not match their geometric arrangement in triangular structures. \u201cIn clinoatacamite, the magnetic copper ions are arranged in what is known as a Kagome lattice,\u201d explains Dr. Leonie St\u00f6dter, winner of the Heinrich B\u00fcssing Prize, who is currently conducting postdoctoral research at the J\u00fclich Centre for Neutron Science at the research centre J\u00fclich in Garching. \u201cThey are subject to an alternating spin arrangement, which they are, however, unable to realise within the triangles.\u201d In Kagome lattices \u2013 named after a Japanese woven basket pattern \u2013 the competition between the spins can be so severe that no magnetic order emerges, even at the very lowest temperatures. This disordered state is referred to as a \u2018quantum spin liquid\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>However, the arrangement in the Kagome lattice is not the only reason why the mineral is magnetically frustrated and why magnetic order can only emerge at very low temperatures of eighteen kelvin, i.e. \u2013255 degrees Celsius. This has been demonstrated by calculations carried out by the research team. \u201cThe Kagome lattice in clinoatacamite is slightly distorted. The antiferromagnetic couplings are therefore of varying strengths, meaning that certain arrangements of the spins are energetically more favourable and are preferred,\u201d explains Carolin Kastner, who is completing her PhD at the Institute of Condensed Matter Physics at TU Braunschweig.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the competition within Kagome lattices, the authors identified an additional competitive effect: different local environments around the copper sites mean that several different magnetic arrangements can be energetically similar, causing the spin arrangements to compete with one another. What is more, this can lead to unusual magnetic states in which different spin arrangements coexist or alternate.<\/p>\n<p>Based on experimental investigations, in particular using large-scale research facilities that provide experimental measurement techniques such as neutron scattering and muon spin rotation, the research team demonstrated that such coexistence of different spin arrangements occurs at temperatures below six kelvin, i.e. \u2013267 degrees Celsius. \u201cClinoatacamite is an example of magnetic frustration at a higher, non-local level,\u201d summarises Dr. St\u00f6dter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe study highlights a possible way in which spin-liquid states can be stabilised relative to conventional long-range magnetic states.\u201d \u2013 The aim of the research is to achieve controlled access to a spin liquid. If this is successful, spin liquids can be used as the basis for constructing novel, improved qubits (units of information for quantum computers).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is a fascinating mineral for collectors becomes a subject &#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":84782,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","class_list":["post-85094","kb_presseinformation","type-kb_presseinformation","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","kb_cat_presse-research","kb_tags-international-en","kb_tags-physics","kb_tags-quantum-technology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Frustrated, more frustrated, more complicated - TU Braunschweig | Blogs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is a fascinating mineral for collectors becomes a subject of study under extreme conditions for researchers: an international team, with Professor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\/en\/pi-post\/frustrated-more-frustrated-more-complicated\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Frustrated, more frustrated, more complicated - TU Braunschweig | Blogs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What is a fascinating mineral for collectors becomes a subject of study under extreme conditions for researchers: an international team, with Professor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\/en\/pi-post\/frustrated-more-frustrated-more-complicated\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TU Braunschweig | Blogs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-01T20:17:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Clinoatacamit_suellow.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\\\/en\\\/pi-post\\\/frustrated-more-frustrated-more-complicated\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\\\/en\\\/pi-post\\\/frustrated-more-frustrated-more-complicated\\\/\",\"name\":\"Frustrated, more frustrated, more complicated - TU Braunschweig | Blogs\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\\\/en\\\/pi-post\\\/frustrated-more-frustrated-more-complicated\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\\\/en\\\/pi-post\\\/frustrated-more-frustrated-more-complicated\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Clinoatacamit_suellow.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-30T07:07:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-01T20:17:28+00:00\",\"description\":\"What is a fascinating mineral for collectors becomes a subject of study under extreme conditions for researchers: an international team, with Professor\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\\\/en\\\/pi-post\\\/frustrated-more-frustrated-more-complicated\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\\\/en\\\/pi-post\\\/frustrated-more-frustrated-more-complicated\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\\\/en\\\/pi-post\\\/frustrated-more-frustrated-more-complicated\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Clinoatacamit_suellow.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Clinoatacamit_suellow.jpg\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":1000,\"caption\":\"Ausschnitt des komplexen magnetischen Zustands von Clinoatacamit bei 1,7 K, dargestellt an einer verzerrten Kagome-Einheit, die durch die Kupferpl\u00e4tze in der Kristallstruktur gebildet wird. 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