Anisotropic magnetic behaviors of the spin-3/2 chain system γ-CoV2O6

In this paper, anisotropic magnetic properties of γ-CoV2O6 are investigated by means of susceptibility and magnetization measurements. Our results confirm that γ-CoV2O6 exhibits Ising-spin magnetic behaviors with TN=6 K, in which the c-axis is magnetic easy axis. A 1/3 magnetization plateau is observed at the critical field of ~2500 Oe applied along the c-axis, while two field-induced spin-flop-like transitions are observed along the a- and b-axes. Compared to α-CoV2O6, we suggest that the spin-arrangements in γ-CoV2O6 may not be completely parallel to magnetic easy c-axis, but shift slightly to the a-axis.