Crystal growth and characterization of the magnetic properties of CuSb2O6

CuSb2O6 crystallizes in a monoclinically distorted trirutile structure. Although the crystal structure indicates a nearly square planar Cu2+ lattice, the spin system is quasi-one-dimensional (spin chains). In the paper crystal growth, twinning and magnetic properties: of the compound are considered. CuSb2O6 single crystals of size up to 125 mm 3 were grown by chemical vapor transport with TeCl4 as a transport agent. The crystals grew from gas phase in the tetragonal modification and transformed to the monoclinic modification upon cooling to room temperature. This results in twinning of the crystals. Uniaxial pressure treatment up to 30 MPa failed to detwin the crystals. The magnetic susceptibility of grown crystals shows a broad anomaly at 60 K indicating the onset of one-dimensional magnetic correlations. A sharp drop at T-N = 8.6(1) K marks a further transition to long-range antiferromagnetic (AF) ordering. The susceptibility can be well fitted to the linear uniform S = (1)/(2) Heisenberg AF model. Heat capacity measurements also demonstrate the transition to long-range magnetic order and the low dimensionality of CuSb2O6. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.