Successive Phase Transitions in Fe2+ Ladder Compounds Sr2Fe3Ch2O3 (Ch = S, Se).

Small single crystals of Sr2Fe3Ch2O3 (Ch = S, Se) have been synthesized by flux methods, and bulk materials have been obtained by solid state reactions. Both compounds are isostructural to the compound Sr2Co3S2O3 (space group Pbam), which contains a novel hybrid spin ladder: a combination of a 2-leg rectangular ladder and a necklace ladder. The 2-leg ladder acts as a well-defined magnetic entity, while intimate magnetic coupling to the necklace ladder induces three successive phase transitions in the range of 40-120 K in each composition (Ch = S or Se), as revealed by Mössbauer spectroscopy, thermodynamics, and magnetometry. The complex magnetic behaviors can be explained by the unique spin-lattice topology.