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Complex magnetostructural order in the frustrated spinel LiInCr4O8

Gøran. J. Nilsen, Yoshihiko Okamoto, Takatsugu Masuda, Juan Rodriguez-Carvajal, Hannu Mutka, Thomas Hansen, and Zenji Hiroi
Phys. Rev. B 91, 174435 – Published 27 May 2015

Abstract

We present a neutron scattering study of the chromate spinel LiInCr4O8, which realizes a “breathing” pyrochlore lattice of S=32 spins. High-resolution neutron diffraction reveals a phase separation into a mixture of minority cubic and majority tetragonal phases below 18 K, followed by apparent magnetic order in a complex two-up two-down pattern in the latter around 12 K. The spin-spin correlation length appears to remain small down to 1.7 K. Above both transitions, time-of-flight neutron spectroscopy shows that the response is inelastic rather than quasielastic, consistent with the relatively large alternation in sizes of adjacent Cr tetrahedra. Finally, a remarkable softening of the inelastic mode is observed preceding the structural transition, implying proximity to a critical point.

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  • Received 30 March 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.91.174435

©2015 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Gøran. J. Nilsen1,*, Yoshihiko Okamoto2,†, Takatsugu Masuda2, Juan Rodriguez-Carvajal1, Hannu Mutka1, Thomas Hansen1, and Zenji Hiroi2

  • 1Institut Laue Langevin, 71 avenue des Martyrs, 38042 Grenoble, France
  • 2Institute for Solid State Physics, University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8581, Japan

  • *nilsen@ill.fr
  • Current address: Department of Applied Physics, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan.

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Issue

Vol. 91, Iss. 17 — 1 May 2015

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