Magnetic structure and spin dynamics of the quasi-two-dimensional antiferromagnet Zn-doped copper pyrovanadate

Magnetic properties of the antiferromagnet ZnxCu2-xV2O7 (ZnCVO) with x approximate to 0.06 have been thoroughly investigated on powder and single-crystal samples. The crystal structure determination using powder x-ray and neutron diffraction confirms that our ZnCVO samples are isostructural with beta-Cu2V2O7 (beta-CVO) with a small deviation in the lattice parameters. Macroscopic magnetic property measurements also confirm the similarity between the two compounds. The Cu2+ spins were found to align along the crystallographic c axis, antiparallel to their nearest neighbors connected by the leading exchange interaction J(1). Spin dynamics reveals a typical symmetric spin-wave dispersion with strong interactions in the bc plane and weak interplane coupling. The exchange interaction analysis indicates that the spin network of ZnCVO is topologically consistent with the previous DFT prediction but the values of leading exchange interactions are contradictory. Furthermore, rather than the predicted 2D honeycomb structure, the spin network in ZnCVO could be better described by the anisotropic 2D spin network composed of J(1), J(5), and J(6) interactions, four bonds per one spin site, coupled by weak interplane interactions.