Direct observation of local Mn-Mn distances in the paramagnetic compound CsMn&lt;em&gt;&lt;sub&gt;x&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/em&gt;Mg&lt;sub&gt;1–&lt;em&gt;x&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/sub&gt;Br&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;

Furrer, A.; Strässle, Th.; Embs, J.P.; Juranyi, F.; Pomjakushin, V.; Schneider, M.; Krämer, K.W.

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.115502

Direct observation of local Mn-Mn distances in the paramagnetic compound CsMn_xMg_1–xBr₃

Furrer A, Strässle T, Embs JP, Juranyi F, Pomjakushin V, Schneider M & Krämer KW

Citation

Furrer, A., Strässle, T., Embs, J. P., Juranyi, F., Pomjakushin, V., Schneider, M., & Krämer, K. W. (2011). Direct observation of local Mn-Mn distances in the paramagnetic compound CsMn_xMg_1–xBr₃. Physical Review Letters, 107(11), 115502 (5 pp.). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.115502

Persistent URL https://www.dora.lib4ri.ch/psi/islandora/object/psi:14154

We introduce a novel method for local structure determination with a spatial resolution of the order of 0.01 Å. It can be applied to materials containing clusters of exchange-coupled magnetic atoms. We use neutron spectroscopy to probe the energies of the cluster excitations which are determined by the interatomic coupling strength J. Since for most materials J is related to the interatomic distance R through a linear relation dJ/dR = α (for dR/R ≪ 1), we can directly derive the local distance R from the observed excitation energies. This is exemplified for the mixed one-dimensional paramagnetic compound CsMn_xMg_1–xBr₃ (x = 0.05,0.10) containing manganese dimers oriented along the hexagonal c axis. Surprisingly, the resulting Mn-Mn distances R do not vary continuously with increasing internal pressure but lock in at some discrete values.