Magnetic materials with three-dimensional (3D) frustrated spin networks manifest a variety of exotic quantum ground states. We investigate the magnetic and thermal properties and the electronic structure of ${\mathrm{Ba}}_2{\mathrm{YbTaO}}_6$, which has a 3D frustrated face-centered-cubic (fcc) lattice of $J_{\mathrm{eff}}=\frac{1}{2}$ moments. The low-temperature magnetic susceptibility confirms the $J_{\mathrm{eff}}=\frac{1}{2}$ state interacting antiferromagnetically with the Curie-Weiss temperature ${\theta }_{\mathrm{cw}}=-0.4\mathrm{K}$. The zero-field specific heat data reveal the absence of magnetic long-range order down to 100 mK. A significant difference in the magnetic entropy between the zero field and the applied magnetic field highlights its potential towards adiabatic demagnetization refrigeration applications. First-principles calculations reveal a combination of strong spin-orbit coupling and pronounced magnetocrystalline anisotropy. Realizing a spin-orbit-coupled $J_{\mathrm{eff}}=\frac{1}{2}$ system on an fcc lattice, ${\mathrm{Ba}}_2{\mathrm{YbTaO}}_6$ emerges as a compelling system to study the interplay of frustration, single-ion anisotropy, and quantum magnetism in 3D lattices.

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• Frustrated magnetism
• Magnetic susceptibility
• Magnetism
• Spin-orbit coupling
• Crystal-field theory
• Density functional theory
• Dilution refrigerator
• Electronic structure
• First-principles calculations
• Liquid helium cooling
• Magnetization measurements
• Specific heat measurements