We have investigated polycrystalline samples of the zigzag chain system BaTb$_2$O$_4$ with a combination of magnetic susceptibility, heat capacity, neutron powder diffraction, and muon spin relaxation measurements. Despite the onset of Tb$^{ 3+}$ short-range antiferromagnetic correlations at $|\theta_{ CW}|$ $=$ 18.5 K and a very large effective moment, our combined measurements indicate that BaTb$_2$O$_4$ remains paramagnetic down to 0.095 K. The magnetic properties of this material show striking similarities to the pyrochlore antiferromagnet Tb$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$, and therefore we propose that BaTb$_2$O$_4$ is a new large moment spin liquid candidate.
Categories: cond-mat.str-el