Confirming the high pressure phase diagram of the Shastry-Sutherland model

A Muon Spin Rotation (mu+SR) study was conducted to investigate the magnetic properties of SrCu2(BO3)(2) (SCBO) as a function of temperature/pressure. Measurements in zero field and transverse field confirm the absence of long range magnetic order at high pressures and low temperatures. These measurements suggest changes in the Cu spin fluctuations characteristics above 21 kbar, consistent with the formation of a plaquette phase as previously suggested by inelastic neutron scattering measurements. SCBO is the only known realisation of the Shatry-Sutherland model, thus the ground state mediating the dimer and antiferromagnetic phase is likekly to be a plaquette state.