Abstract
We describe why Ising spin chains with competing interactions in SrHo2O4 segregate into ordered and disordered ensembles at low temperatures (T). Using elastic neutron scattering, magnetization, and specific heat measurements, the two distinct spin chains are inferred to have Neel (up arrow down arrow up arrow down arrow) and double-Neel (up arrow up arrow down arrow down arrow) ground states, respectively. Below T-N = 0.68(2) K, the Neel chains develop three-dimensional long range order (LRO), which arrests further thermal equilibration of the double-Neel chains so they remain in a disordered incommensurate state for T below T-S = 0.52(2) K. SrHo2O4 distills an important feature of incommensurate low dimensional magnetism: kinetically trapped topological defects in a quasi-d-dimensional spin system can preclude order in d + 1 dimensions.
