Entropy Balance and Evidence for Local Spin Singlets in a Kagomé-Like Magnet

Abstract

We have measured the specific heat C(T) of the S = 3 / 2 Kagome-lattice-containing compound SrCr (9p)Ga (12-9p)O (19). We find little field dependence of the low-temperature C(T), consistent with a low-energy spectrum dominated by many-body singlet excitations. At high temperatures, we recover only approximately 50% of the total R ln4 entropy.