Magnetic properties of the one-dimensional S = 3 2 Heisenberg antiferromagnetic spin-chain compound Na 2 Mn 3 O 7

We have performed magnetic susceptibility $(\\ensuremath{\\chi})$, heat capacity $({C}_{p})$, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements on the layered compound ${\\mathrm{Na}}_{2}{\\mathrm{Mn}}_{3}{\\mathrm{O}}_{7}$ in which the magnetic ${\\mathrm{Mn}}^{4+}$ ions constitute a maple-leaf lattice. At high temperature, $\\ensuremath{\\chi}$ follows the Curie-Weiss (CW) law with CW temperature as high as 152 K and ${\\mathrm{Mn}}^{4+}$ ions are found to be in the high-spin state $(S=\\frac{3}{2})$. With decreasing temperature, $\\ensuremath{\\chi}$ passes through a broad maximum at 115 K and decreases rapidly at low temperature. A similar broad peak appears at around 62 K in the magnetic contribution to heat capacity $({C}_{m})$. The temperature dependence of $\\ensuremath{\\chi}$ and ${C}_{m}$ are the characteristics of an one-dimensional Heisenberg antiferromagnetic spin chain with a nonmagnetic ground state. The obtained values of spin-gap energy $({\\mathrm{\\ensuremath{\\Delta}}}_{s})$ and nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic exchange coupling $(J)$ are 28 and 27 K, respectively. There is no evidence of a long-range magnetic ordering down to 2 K in heat capacity data, in agreement with spin-singlet ground state. These observations are further corroborated by $^{23}\\mathrm{Na}$ NMR studies through measurements of both the NMR shift and the spin-lattice relaxation rate.