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arXiv · 2208.01431

Direct visualization of magnetic correlations in frustrated spinel ZnFe$_2$O$_4$

Jonas Ruby Sandemann·Thomas Bjørn Egede Grønbech·Kristoffer Andreas Holm Støckler·Feng Ye·Bryan C. Chakoumakos·Bo Brummerstedt Iversen
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Abstract

Magnetic materials with the spinel structure (A$^{2+}$B$^{3+}_2$O$^4$) form the core of numerous magnetic devices, but ZnFe$_2$O$_4$ constitutes a peculiar example where the nature of the magnetism is still unresolved. Susceptibility measurements revealed a cusp around $T_c=13\;\mathrm{K}$ resembling an antiferromagnetic transition, despite the positive Curie-Weiss temperature determined to be $\Theta_{CW}=102.8(1)\;\mathrm{K}$. Bifurcation of field-cooled and zero-field-cooled data below $T_c$ in conjunction with a frequency dependence of the peak position and a non-zero imaginary component below $T_c$ shows it is in fact associated with a spin-glass transition. Highly structured magnetic diffuse neutron scattering from single crystals develops between $50\;\mathrm{K}$ and $25\;\mathrm{K}$ revealing the presence of magnetic disorder which is correlated in nature. Here, the 3D-m$\Delta$PDF method is used to visualize the local magnetic ordering preferences, and ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor and antiferromagnetic third nearest-neighbor correlations are shown to be dominant. Their temperature dependence is extraordinary with some flipping in sign, and a strongly varying correlation length. The correlations can be explained by orbital interaction mechanisms for the magnetic pathways, and a preferred spin cluster. Our study demonstrates the power of the 3D-m$\Delta$PDF method in visualizing complex quantum phenomena thereby providing a way to obtain an atomic scale understanding of magnetic frustration.

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Jonas Ruby Sandemann, Thomas Bjørn Egede Grønbech, Kristoffer Andreas Holm Støckler, Feng Ye, Bryan C. Chakoumakos, Bo Brummerstedt Iversen. 2022-08-02. Direct visualization of magnetic correlations in frustrated spinel ZnFe$_2$O$_4$. https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.01431

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