  The jarosite family of minerals contain antiferromagnetically coupled Fe3+
ions that make up the kagome network. This geometric arrangement of the Fe3+
ions causes magnetic frustration that results in exotic electronic ground
states, e.g. spin glasses and spin liquids. Synthesic research into jarosites
has focused on producing near perfect stoichiometry to eliminate possible
magnetic disorder. An new oxidative synthesis method has been devel-oped for
the potassium, sodium, rubidium and ammonium jarosites that leads to high Fe
coverage. We show through the identification of a meta-stable intermediate,
using powder X-ray diffraction, how near perfect Fe coverage arises using this
method. Understanding this new mechanism for jarosite formation suggests that
is it possible to synthesis hydronium jarosite, an unconventional spin glass,
with a very high Fe coverage.
