Exotic ground states in new geometrically frustrated oxides

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The science of frustration - the inability of a system to find a way of minimizing its energy in a unique way - has brought about a plethora of new ideas in chemistry and physics, from new routes to superconductors, to new electric devices such as multiferroics. Once only thought to be of theoretical interest, these compounds have become more than a toy-box for solid state chemists and condensed matter theorists - they have become model compounds for studying quantum magnetism. This proposal outlines a strategy to search for new compounds which will test modern ideas for describing magnetism in solids, which has applications from the everyday (ie. how to create new devices based on magnetic phenomena) to the exotic (ie. searching for magnetic monopoles in solids). An understanding of these new materials, composed of networks of magnetic spins upon triangular arrays, is essential for understanding magnetic phenomena in general, and also for designing new technologies for the future.