LiZn₂V₃O₈: a new geometrically frustrated cluster spin-glass

We have investigated the structural and magnetic properties of a new cubic spinel LiZn₂V₃O₈ (LZVO) through x-ray diffraction, dc and ac susceptibility, magnetic relaxation, aging, memory effect, heat capacity and ⁷Li nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements. A Curie-Weiss fit of the dc susceptibility [Formula: see text]([Formula: see text]) yields a Curie-Weiss temperature [Formula: see text] K. This suggests strong antiferromagnetic (AFM) interactions among the magnetic vanadium ions. The dc and ac susceptibility data indicate the spin-glass behavior below a freezing temperature T _f [Formula: see text] 3 K. The frequency dependence of the T _f is characterized by the Vogel-Fulcher law and critical dynamic scaling behavior or power law. From both fitting, we obtained the value of the characteristic angular frequency [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] 3.56 [Formula: see text] 10⁶ Hz, the dynamic exponent [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] 2.65, and the critical time constant [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] 1.82 [Formula: see text] 10^-6 s, which falls in the conventional range for typical cluster spin-glass (CSG) systems. The value of relative shift in freezing temperature [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] 0.039 supports a CSG ground states. We also found aging phenomena and memory effects in LZVO. The asymmetric response of the magnetic relaxation below T _f supports the hierarchical model. Heat capacity data show no long-range or short-range ordering down to 2 K. Only about 25% magnetic entropy change [Formula: see text] signifies the presence of strong frustration in the system. The ⁷Li NMR spectra show a shift and broadening with decreasing temperature. The spin-lattice and spin-spin relaxation rates show anomalies due to spin freezing around 3 K as the bulk magnetization.