Interleaved bond frustration in a triangular lattice antiferromagnet

Frustration of long-range order via lattice geometry amplifies fluctuations and generates ground states that are highly sensitive to perturbations. Traditionally, geometric frustration is used to engineer unconventional magnetic states; however, the charge degree of freedom and bond order can be similarly frustrated. Finding materials that host both frustrated magnetic and bond networks holds promise for engineering structural and magnetic states with the potential of coupling to one another via either magnetic or strain fields. Here we identify an unusual instance of this coexistence in the triangular lattice antiferromagnets LnCd₃P₃ (Ln = lanthanides). These compounds feature two-dimensional planes of unique trigonal planar CdP₃ units with an underlying bond instability that is frustrated via emergent kagome ice correlations. This bond instability is interleaved in between layers of frustrated magnetic moments. Our results establish LnCd₃P₃ as a rare materials class in which frustrated magnetism is embedded within a dopable semiconductor with a frustrated bond order instability.