The discovery of magnetism by the ancient Greeks was enabled by the natural occurrence of lodestone – a magnetized version of the mineral magnetite. Nowadays, natural minerals continue to inspire the search for novel magnetic materials with quantum-critical behaviour or exotic ground states such as spin liquids. The recent surge of interest in magnetic frustration and quantum magnetism was largely encouraged by crystalline structures of natural minerals realizing pyrochlore, kagome, or triangular arrangements of magnetic ions. As a result, names like azurite, jarosite, volborthite, and others, which were barely known beyond the mineralogical community a few decades ago, found their way into cutting-edge research in solid-state physics. In some cases, the structures of natural minerals are too complex to be synthesized artificially in a chemistry lab, especially in single-crystalline form, and there is a growing number of examples demonstrating the potential of natural specimens for experimental investigations in the field of quantum magnetism. On many other occasions, minerals may guide chemists in the synthesis of novel compounds with unusual magnetic properties. The present review attempts to embrace this quickly emerging interdisciplinary field that bridges mineralogy with low-temperature condensed-matter physics and quantum chemistry.

中文翻译：

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矿物中的量子磁性

古希腊人发现磁性的原因是天然存在的磁石——磁铁矿的磁化版本。如今，天然矿物继续激发对具有量子临界行为或奇异基态（如自旋液体）的新型磁性材料的探索。最近对磁挫败和量子磁性的兴趣在很大程度上受到天然矿物晶体结构的推动，实现了烧绿石、可果目或磁性离子的三角形排列。结果，像蓝铜矿、黄钾铁矿、伏硼铁矿等几十年前在矿物学界之外鲜为人知的名称，进入了固态物理学的前沿研究。在某些情况下，天然矿物的结构过于复杂，无法在化学实验室中人工合成，尤其是单晶形式，而且越来越多的例子证明了天然标本在量子磁性领域进行实验研究的潜力。在许多其他情况下，矿物质可以指导化学家合成具有不寻常磁性的新型化合物。本综述试图拥抱这个迅速兴起的跨学科领域，它将矿物学与低温凝聚态物理和量子化学联系起来。矿物可以指导化学家合成具有不寻常磁性的新型化合物。本综述试图拥抱这个迅速兴起的跨学科领域，它将矿物学与低温凝聚态物理和量子化学联系起来。矿物可以指导化学家合成具有不寻常磁性的新型化合物。本综述试图拥抱这个迅速兴起的跨学科领域，它将矿物学与低温凝聚态物理和量子化学联系起来。