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Orbital Configurations and Magnetic Properties of Double-Layered Antiferromagnet Cs$_3$Cu$_2$Cl$_4$Br$_3$

We report the single-crystal X-ray analysis and magnetic properties of a new double-layered perovskite antiferromagnet, Cs$_3$Cu$_2$Cl$_4$Br$_3$. This structure is composed of Cu$_2$Cl$_4$Br$_3$ double layers with elongated CuCl$_4$Br$_2$ octahedra and is closely related to the Sr$_3$Ti$_2$O$_7$ structure. An as-grown crystal has a singlet ground state with a large excitation gap of $Δ/k_{\rm B}\simeq 2000$ K, due to the strong antiferromagnetic interaction between the two layers. Cs$_3$Cu$_2$Cl$_4$Br$_3$ undergoes a structural phase transition at $T_{\rm s}\simeq330$ K accompanied by changes in the orbital configurations of Cu$^{2+}$ ions. Once a Cs$_3$Cu$_2$Cl$_4$Br$_3$ crystal is heated above $T_{\rm s}$, its magnetic susceptibility obeys the Curie-Weiss law with decreasing temperature even below $T_{\rm s}$ and does not exhibit anomalies at $T_{\rm s}$. This implies that in the heated crystal, the orbital state of the high-temperature phase remains unchanged below $T_{\rm s}$, and thus, this orbital state is the metastable state. The structural phase transition at $T_{\rm s}$ is characterized as an order-disorder transition of Cu$^{2+}$ orbitals.