Antiferromagnetic and orbital ordering on a diamond lattice near quantum criticality

K. W. Plumb, J. R. Morey, J. A. Rodriguez-Rivera, Hui Wu, A. A. Podlesnyak, T. M. McQueen, C. L. Broholm

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present neutron scattering measurements on powder samples of the spinel FeSc2S4 that reveal a previously unobserved magnetic ordering transition occurring at 11.8(2) K. Magnetic ordering occurs subsequent to a subtle cubic-to-tetragonal structural transition that distorts Fe coordinating sulfur tetrahedra and lifts the orbital degeneracy. The orbital ordering is not truly long ranged, but occurs over finite-sized domains that limit magnetic correlation lengths. The application of 1 GPa hydrostatic pressure appears to destabilize this Néel state, reducing the transition temperature to 8.6(8) K and redistributing magnetic spectral weight to higher energies. The relative magnitudes of ordered 〈m〉2 = 3.1(2) μB2 B and fluctuating moments 〈δm〉 1/4 13(1)μB2B show that the magnetically ordered state of FeSc2S4 is drastically renormalized and close to criticality.

Original languageEnglish
Article number041055
JournalPhysical Review X
Volume6
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2016

Funding

FundersFunder number
National Science Foundation1508249

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