Muons and magnets

Abstract:

We present the results of a muon-spin spectroscopy investigation of GaV4S8-ySey with y=0,2,4, and 8. Zero-field measurements suggest that GaV4Se8 and GaV4S8 have distinct magnetic ground states, with the latter material showing an anomalous temperature dependence of the local magnetic field. It is not possible to evolve the magnetic state continuously between these two systems, with the intermediate y=2 and 4 materials showing glassy magnetic behavior at low temperature. The skyrmion lattice (SkL) phase is evident in the y=0 and 8 materials through an enhanced response of the muon-spin relaxation to the emergent dynamics that accompany the SkL. For our polycrystalline samples of GaV4Se8, this enhanced dynamic response is confined to a smaller region of the magnetic field-temperature phase diagram than the previous reports of the SkL in single crystals.