  A quasi one-dimensional compound, Ca3CuRuO6, has been synthesized by
solid-state reaction method and studied using magnetization (M) and heat
capacity (C) measurements. This compound undergoes magnetic ordering (T_o)
around 40 K, as evidenced by the dc magnetic susceptibility (chi) behavior.
However, the magnitude of the paramagnetic
  Curie temperature (theta_p) obtained from the high temperature linear region
is large (-277 K, with the negative sign indicating antiferromagnetic
interaction). The reduction of T_o, compared to theta_p, is attributed to
geometrical frustration effect arising from the triangular arrangement of
antiferromagnetically coupled magnetic chains. The absence of a feature in ac
chi around 40 K rules out possible spin-glass freezing. However, we find that
the peak in C(T) around 40 K is weak, with the entropy change associated with
the transition being negligible, typical of a disordered magnetism. We infer
that this material thus exhibits inhomogeneous magnetism, despite being
stoichiometric, presumably due to an interplay between disorder in the Cu-Ru
chain.
