Specific heat and magnetization study on single crystals of the frustrated quasi-one-dimensional oxide Ca 3 Co 2 O 6

Specific heat and magnetization measurements have been carried out under a range of magnetic fields on single crystals of Ca 3 Co 2 O 6 . This compound is composed of Ising magnetic chains that are arranged on a triangular lattice. The intrachain and interchain couplings are ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic, respectively. This situation gives rise to geometrical frustration, that bears some similarity to the classical problem of a two-dimensional Ising triangular antiferromagnet. This paper reports on the ordering process at low T and the possibility of one-dimensional features at high T.