No Arabic abstract
We report $^{51}$V nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) studies on single crystals of the multiferroic material FeVO$_4$. The high-temperature Knight shift shows Curie-Weiss behavior, $^{51}K = a/(T + theta)$, with a large Weiss constant $theta approx$ 116 K. However, the $^{51}$V spectrum shows no ordering near these temperatures, splitting instead into two peaks below 65 K, which suggests only short-ranged magnetic order on the NMR time scale. Two magnetic transitions are identified from peaks in the spin-lattice relaxation rate, $1/^{51}T_1$, at temperatures $T_{N1} approx$ 19 K and $T_{N2} approx$ 13 K, which are lower than the estimates obtained from polycrystalline samples. In the low-temperature incommensurate spiral state, the maximum ordered moment is estimated as 1.95${mu}_B$/Fe, or 1/3 of the local moment. Strong low-energy spin fluctuations are also indicated by the unconventional power-law temperature dependence $1/^{51}T_1 propto T^2$. The large Weiss constant, short-range magnetic correlations far above $T_{N1}$, small ordered moment, significant low-energy spin fluctuations, and incommensurate ordered phases all provide explicit evidence for strong magnetic frustration in FeVO$_4$.
The crystal and magnetic structures of stoichiometric ZnCr2Se4 have been investigated using synchrotron X-ray and neutron powder diffraction, muon spin relaxation (muSR) and inelastic neutron scattering. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction shows a spin-lattice distortion from the cubic spinel to a tetragonal I41/amd lattice below TN = 21 K, where powder neutron diffraction confirms the formation of a helical magnetic structure with magnetic moment of 3.04(3) {mu}B at 1.5 K; close to that expected for high-spin Cr3+. MuSR measurements show prominent local spin correlations that are established at temperatures considerably higher (< 100 K) than the onset of long range magnetic order. The stretched exponential nature of the relaxation in the local spin correlation regime suggests a wide distribution of depolarizing fields. Below TN, unusually fast (> 100 {mu}s-1) muon relaxation rates are suggestive of rapid site hopping of the muons in static field. Inelastic neutron scattering measurements show a gapless mode at an incommensurate propagation vector of k = (0 0 0.4648(2)) in the low temperature magnetic ordered phase that extends to 0.8 meV. The dispersion is modelled by a two parameter Hamiltonian, containing ferromagnetic nearest neighbor and antiferromagnetic next nearest neighbor interactions with a Jnnn/Jnn = -0.337.
We report the signatures of dynamic spin fluctuations in the layered honeycomb Li$_3$Cu$_2$SbO$_6$ compound, with a 3$d$ S = 1/2 $d^9$ Cu$^{2+}$ configuration, through muon spin rotation and relaxation ($mu$SR) and neutron scattering studies. Our zero-field (ZF) and longitudinal-field (LF)-$mu$SR results demonstrate the slowing down of the Cu$^{2+}$ spin fluctuations below 4.0 K. The saturation of the ZF relaxation rate at low temperature, together with its weak dependence on the longitudinal field between 0 and 3.2 kG, indicates the presence of dynamic spin fluctuations persisting even at 80 mK without static order. Neutron scattering study reveals the gaped magnetic excitations with three modes at 7.7, 13.5 and 33 meV. Our DFT calculations reveal that the next nearest neighbors (NNN) AFM exchange ($J_{AFM}$ = 31 meV) is stronger than the NN FM exchange ($J_{FM}$ = -21 meV) indicating the importance of the orbital degrees of freedom. Our results suggest that the physics of Li$_3$Cu$_2$SbO$_6$ can be explained by an alternating AFM chain rather than the honeycomb lattice.
Mn$_3$O$_4$ is a spin frustrated magnet that adopts a tetragonally distorted spinel structure at ambient conditions and a CaMn$_2$O$_4$-type postspinel structure at high pressure. We conducted both optical measurements and emph{ab} emph{initio} calculations, and systematically studied the electronic band structures of both the spinel and postspinel Mn$_3$O$_4$ phases. For both phases, theoretical electronic structures are consistent with the optical absorption spectra, and display characteristic band-splitting of the conduction band. The band gap obtained from the absorption spectra is 1.91(6) eV for the spinel phase, and 0.94(2) eV for the postspinel phase. Both phases are charge-transfer type insulators. The Mn 3emph{d} $t_2$$_g$ and O 2emph{p} form antibonding orbitals situated at the conduction band with higher energy.
Spin fluctuations were studied over a wide momentum ($hbar Q$) and energy ($E$) space in the frustrated $d$-electron heavy-fermion metal LiV$_2$O$_4$ by time-of-flight inelastic neutron scattering. We observed the overall $Q$$-$$E$ evolutions near the characteristic $Q=0.6$ {AA}$^{-1}$ peak and found another weak broad magnetic peak around 2.4 {AA}$^{-1}$. The data are described by a simple response function, a highly itinerant magnetic form factor, and antiferromagnetic short-range spatial correlations, indicating that heavy-fermion formation is attributable to spin-orbit fluctuations with orbital hybridization.
FeVO$_4$ has been studied by heat capacity, magnetic susceptibility, electric polarization and single crystal neutron diffraction experiments. The triclinic crystal structure is made of emph{S}-shaped clusters of six Fe$^{3+}$ ions, linked by VO$_4^{3-}$ groups. Two long-range magnetic ordering transitions occur at T$_{N1}$=22K and T$_{N2}$=15K. Both magnetic structures are incommensurate. That stable below T$_{N1}$ is collinear with amplitude modulated moments whereas below T$_{N2}$ the arrangement is non-collinear with a helicoidal modulation. Below T$_{N2}$, fevo becomes weakly ferroelectric coincidentally with the loss of the collinearity of the magnetic structure. We conclude that fevo provides another example of frustrated spiral magnet similar to the classical TbMnO$_3$ compound. However, fevo has quenched orbital moments and a particular structure clarifying the respective role of anisotropy and magnetic frustration in this type of multiferroic materials.