The bixbyite framework as a platform for frustrated noncollinear magnetism: resolving the magnetic ground state of $β$-Fe$_2$O$_3$

[2606.17842] The bixbyite framework as a platform for frustrated noncollinear magnetism: resolving the magnetic ground state of $β$-Fe$_2$O$_3$ Skip to main content Search Submit Donate Log in Condensed Matter > Strongly Correlated Electrons arXiv:2606.17842 (cond-mat) [Submitted on 16 Jun 2026 ( v1 ), last revised 28 Aug 2026 (this version, v2)] Title: The bixbyite framework as a platform for frustrated noncollinear magnetism: resolving the magnetic ground state of $β$-Fe$_2$O$_3$ Authors: Chenjun Tang (1), Ondřej Malina (2 and 3), Jiři Tuček (4), Francois Fauth (5), Marti Gich (1), Jose Luis Garcia-Muñoz (1) ((1) Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC). Cerdanyola del Vallès. Spain., (2) Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials. CATRIN. Olomouc. Czech Republic., (3) Nanotechnology Centre-CEET VSB-TUO. Ostrava. Poruba, Czech Republic., (4) Research Centre of FEEI-UPCE. Pardubice. Czech Republic., (5) CELLS-ALBA Synchrotron. Cerdanyola del Vallès (Barcelona). Spain) View PDF Abstract: Magnetic behavior across Fe$_2$O$_3$ polymorphs varies widely despite identical chemistry, highlighting crystal architecture as a key determinant of exchange topology, magnetic anisotropy, and ultimately magnetic order. Here, using neutron and synchrotron X-ray diffraction, we establish the magnetic ground state of the poorly understood bixbyite $\beta$-Fe$_2$O$_3$ polymorph and uncover the structural origin of its strong frustration. Below the Néel temperature, a noncollinear antiferromagnetic state emerges through activation of the $mH_1^{+}$ irrep at the H-point [$\mathbf{k}=(1,1,1)$] and the antitranslation $(1'|\tfrac{1}{2},\tfrac{1}{2},\tfrac{1}{2})$, breaking the body centering and yielding two interpenetrating primitive cubic magnetic subcells with inverted moments and nonpolar type-IV symmetry. Under exclusively antiferromagnetic Fe$^{3+}$-O-Fe$^{3+}$ interactions, $\beta$-Fe$_2$O$_3$ exhibits a large frustration index ($f \approx 7.56$). This behavior originates from the intrinsic geometry of the bixbyite lattice: two magnetic sublattices with distinct point symmetries and anisotropy constraints are embedded in a three-dimensional exchange network containing interconnected triangular and hexagonal motifs. In $\{111\}$ planes, Fe2 ions form hexagonal rings interconnected by frustrated triangular units, while locally Ising-like Fe1 ions occupy the ring centers. Our results thus identify the bixbyite architecture as a promising general platform for frustrated noncollinear magnetism. Extending this structural framework to other magnetic transition-metal or 4$f$ ions opens a materials space for engineering competing exchange interactions and anisotropies, potentially stabilizing new noncollinear and field-tunable magnetic states. Comments: 32 pages, 14 figures, 6 Tables Subjects: Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el) ; Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) Cite as: arXiv:2606.17842 [cond-mat.str-el] (or arXiv:2606.17842v2 [cond-mat.str-el] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2606.17842 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite Submission history From: Jose Luis Garcia-Muñoz [ view email ] [v1] Tue, 16 Jun 2026 12:10:26 UTC (1,742 KB) [v2] Fri, 28 Aug 2026 10:42:32 UTC (1,873 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View PDF view license Current browse context: cond-mat.str-el < prev | next > new | recent | 2026-06 Change to browse by: cond-mat cond-mat.mtrl-sci References & Citations SciX Google Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer ( What is the Explorer? ) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers ( What is Connected Papers? ) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps ( What is Litmaps? ) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations ( What are Smart Citations? ) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv ( What is alphaXiv? ) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers ( What is CatalyzeX? ) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub ( What is DagsHub? ) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub ( What is GotitPub? ) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face ( What is Huggingface? ) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast ( What is ScienceCast? ) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate ( What is Replicate? ) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces ( What is Spaces? ) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI ( What is TXYZ.AI? ) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower ( What are Influence Flowers? ) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender ( What is CORE? ) IArxiv recommender toggle IArxiv Recommender ( What is IArxiv? ) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. 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