Universal Magnetic Structure of the Half-Magnetization Phase in Cr-Based Spinels

M. Matsuda , K. Ohoyama , S. Yoshii , H. Nojiri , P. Frings (1, 2) , F. Duc (2) , Baptiste Vignolle (2) , Rikken G.L.J.A. (1, 2) , L.-P. Regnault , S.-H. Lee (3) , H. Ueda , Y. Ueda (4)

1 LNCMP - Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Pulsés
2 LNCMI-T - Laboratoire national des champs magnétiques intenses - Toulouse
3 Department of Chemistry
4 ISSP - Institute for Solid State Physics [Tokyo]

Using an elastic neutron scattering technique under a pulsed magnetic field up to 30 T, we determined the magnetic structure in the half-magnetization plateau phase in the spinel CdCr2O4. The magnetic structure has a cubic P4332 symmetry, which is the same as that observed in HgCr2O4. This suggests that despite their different zero-field ground states a universal field-induced spin-lattice coupling mechanism is at work in the Cr-based spinels.

Domaines: Supraconductivité [cond-mat.supr-con]

M. Matsuda, K. Ohoyama, S. Yoshii, H. Nojiri, P. Frings, et al.. Universal Magnetic Structure of the Half-Magnetization Phase in Cr-Based Spinels. Physical Review Letters, 2010, 104, pp.047201. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.047201⟩. ⟨hal-00458182⟩