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Heterometallic spin-12 quantum magnet under hydrostatic pressure

M. J. Coak1,2, D. Kamenskyi3,4,5, S. P. M. Curley1, B. M. Huddart6,*, J. P. Tidey1, A. Chmeruk7,8, T. Sakurai9, S. Okubo10,†, H. Ohta10,† et al.

S. Kimura11, H. Nojiri11, D. Graf12, S. J. Clark6, Z. E. Manson13, J. L. Manson13,‡, T. Lancaster6, and P. A. Goddard1,§

  • *Present address: Clarendon Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom.
  • †Present address: Center for Life Photonic Innovation, Kobe University, Hyogo 657-8501, Kobe, Japan.
  • ‡Deceased.
  • §Contact author: p.goddard@warwick.ac.uk
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Phys. Rev. B 113, 224439 – Published 23 June, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/rlx3-z62s

Abstract

We investigate the properties of CuVOF4(H2O)6·H2O, in which two different spin species, Cu(II) and V(IV), form antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 dimers with weak interdimer coupling provided via hydrogen bonding. Using radio-frequency susceptometry and electron-spin resonance (ESR), we show how the temperature-magnetic field spin-dimer phase diagram evolves as a function of applied hydrostatic pressure and correlate this with pressure-induced changes to the crystal structure. These results, coupled with pressure-tuned DFT calculations, confirm the prior prediction that the primary exchange interaction is mediated via an unusual mechanism in which the V(IV) ions provide considerable spin density to the oxygen that joins the two spins in each dimer and which lies along the Jahn-Teller axis of the Cu(II) ion. In addition, the dissimilarity in the spins that make up each dimer unit leads to a nonlinear field dependence of the electronic energy levels as detected in the ESR measurements.

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Phys. Rev. B 113, 224439– Published 23 June, 2026
  • Received 1 December 2025
  • Revised 10 April 2026
  • Accepted 6 May 2026
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