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Anisotropic spin ice on a breathing pyrochlore lattice

Gloria Isbrandt, Frank Pollmann, and Michael Knap

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Phys. Rev. B 112, 165110 – Published 7 October, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/gyf7-nm5v

Abstract

Spin ice systems represent a prime example of constrained spin systems and exhibit rich low-energy physics. In this study, we explore how introducing a tunable anisotropic spin coupling to the conventional Ising spin ice Hamiltonian on the breathing pyrochlore lattice affects the ground state properties of the system. Significant changes are observed in the ground state structure, reflected in the spin structure factor and in a reduction of residual entropy at low temperatures. We theoretically uncover a rich phase diagram by varying the anisotropy and demonstrate how this modification reduces the ground state degeneracy across different phases. Numerical simulations reveal that, at sufficiently low temperatures, the system either undergoes a crossover into a constrained spin ice manifold, characterized by an entropy density that drops below the Pauling entropy of conventional spin ice, or a phase transition into a symmetry-broken state, depending on the perturbations. Additionally, we compute the spin structure factors for the anisotropic model and compare these results to analytical predictions from a self-consistent Gaussian approximation, finding good agreement. This work develops the understanding of spin ice in anisotropic limits, which may be experimentally realized by strain, providing, among others, key signatures in entropy and specific heat.

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Phys. Rev. B 112, 165110– Published 7 October, 2025
  • Received 9 May 2025
  • Revised 10 September 2025
  • Accepted 15 September 2025
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