Effects of the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction in Cr3 triangular spin clusters detected by specific heat and multi-frequency electron spin resonance

Abstract

An oxo-centered [Cr₃O(O₂C^tBu)₆(H₂O)₃](O₂C^tBu) HO₂C^tBu·2EtOH triangular cluster has been synthesized and its magnetic properties have been studied by means of complementary techniques, namely magnetometry, specific heat and multi-frequency Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR). Measurements on oriented single-crystals evidenced the presence of anisotropy that we attributed to the combined effect of Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya exchange interaction and distortion. By means of a minimal set of parameters, we show that a simple analytical model well describes the main features of the full set of experimental data.