Magnetic Phase Transitions in Charge-Striped Dodecaborides

Charge-striped dodecaborides are a class of rare-earth boron cluster compounds in which conduction electrons self-organise into quasi-one-dimensional modulated patterns within a rigid boron cage framework. This electronic phase separation gives rise to dynamic charge stripes that interact strongly with localised 4f or 5d magnetic moments of the rare-earth ions. As temperature or applied magnetic field is varied, these systems undergo a sequence of magnetic phase transitions, most notably from a high-temperature paramagnetic regime into antiferromagnetic or ferromagnetic states at low temperature. The onset of stripe ordering often coincides with lattice instabilities, such as cooperative Jahn–Teller distortions, and with the emergence of a cage-glass state where positional disorder of the rare-earth ions freezes in. The intricate coupling between electronic stripes and spin order leads to pronounced anomalies in transport properties, including large anisotropic magnetoresistance and unconventional Hall responses. These transitions are of both fundamental interest, as exemplars of intertwined charge and spin order in strongly correlated electron systems, and of practical relevance for future spintronic devices and magnetic sensors that exploit the sensitivity of stripe–spin interactions to external stimuli.

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Technical terms

Charge stripes: Spatially modulated arrangements of high and low electron density forming quasi-one-dimensional patterns within a crystalline host.

Dodecaborides: Compounds of the form RB12, where R is a rare-earth metal and B12 denotes a boron icosahedral cluster forming a rigid cage.

Cage-glass state: A low-temperature disordered state in which positional fluctuations of guest ions within boron cages become frozen.

Berry phase contribution: A geometric phase acquired by an electron’s wavefunction traversing closed loops in parameter space, affecting transport.

Skew scattering: Asymmetric deflection of conduction electrons by magnetic impurities or inhomogeneities, leading to an anomalous Hall effect.

References

1. Hall Effect Anisotropy in the Paramagnetic Phase of Ho0.8Lu0.2B12 Induced by Dynamic Charge Stripes. Molecules (2023).
2. Hall Effect in the Antiferromagnetic State of Ho0.8Lu0.2B12. JETP Letters (2022).