In frustrated magnets, competing interactions suppress conventional ordering, and open the door to entirely new phenomena and properties.  Examples range from spin ice, which supports exotic excitations that are analogs of magnetic monopoles, to diverse multi-ferroic oxides of practical interest. Analogs in charge ordered systems, artificial magnetic structures, He3 and ultracold atomic gases are also under active study.

Where magnetic order is suppressed all the way to zero temperature, an unusual class of phases, quantum spin liquids, may be realized.  Remarkably, they are described naturally by gauge theories, as with the fundamental forces.  A number of microscopic models have now been shown to realize these phases.  Recently, a growing number of experimental spin liquid candidates have emerged, in which magnetic or other orders are absent even at temperatures that are orders of magnitude smaller than the characteristic energy scales. The rapid progress on different fronts has stimulated this program, which will bring together numerical simulation, experiment, and theory, to seed further progress in this area.

From October 8-12, 2012, a Conference entitled Exotic Phases of Frustrated Magnets will be held.  Further information will be posted online when it becomes available.