Amalia Coldea

Abstract:

We present the results of muon-spin-relaxation experiments for two materials which show geometric frustration. ZnCr22O4 has a spinel structure with S = 3/2 spins on a lattice of corner-sharing tetrahedra. Our experiments show that a local magnetic field which is quasi-static on the muon timescale develops below Tc = 12.5 K, a transition which has been associated with a three-dimensional analogue of the spin-Peierls transition. In contrast, Gd3Ga5O12 has a garnet structure with S = 7/2 spins arranged on interpenetrating triangular sublattices. In this material the muon data exhibit a temperature-dependent spin-relaxation rate indicative of slow spin fluctuations. We discuss these differing behaviours and relate them to the underlying physics in the two materials.

Abstract:

We report a series of magnetic and magnetotransport studies performed on Ga-substituted manganite compounds La2-xSrxMnGaO6 (x≤0.7). We replace half of the Mn ions in LaMnO3 with diamagnetic ions Ga³⁺ and find that the system transforms into a ferromagnet as the result of local coherent and incoherent distortions. Following additional doping with Sr ions we find that the La2-xSrxMnGaO6 compounds remain ferromagnetic up to x∼0.3 but for higher concentrations the competition between the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic superexchange interactions, together with the randomness in distribution of the magnetic ions, lead to magnetic frustration, cluster-glass and spin-glass behavior. All compounds are insulating and the activation energy decreases almost linearly with x. μSR measurements suggest the existence of short-range magnetic correlations in the high-temperature region. We measure a significant increase in the muon-spin relaxation rate at low temperatures due to fluctuations of random internal magnetic fields. The observed magnetoresistance in the high-temperature region is mainly a consequence of the reduction of the spin disorder on a local scale, and is as high as 50% in 14 T and T>100 K for samples with x=0.3 and x=0.5.

Abstract:

The room-temperature crystal structure of the brownmillerite SrCaMnGaO5+δ (δ = 0.035) has been refined from neutron powder diffraction data; space group Ima2, a = 15.7817(6), b = 5.4925(2), c = 5.3196(2) Å. Mn and Ga occupy 99.0(2)% of the 6- and 4-coordinate sites, respectively. A combination of magnetometry, neutron diffraction and μSR spectroscopy has shown that the compound orders magnetically at 180 K, and that the low-temperature phase has a G-type antiferromagnetic structure, with an ordered magnetic moment of 3.30(2) μB per Mn at 2 K. Displaced hysteresis loops provide evidence that the atomic moment has an additional, glassy component. Magnetometry shows that significant short-range magnetic interactions persist above 180 K, and μSR that the spin fluctuations are thermally activated in this temperature region. The compound is an electrical insulator which at 159 K shows an unusually large magnetoresistance of 85% in 6T, increasing to 90% in 13 T. © 2002 Elsevier Science (USA).