Classical spin nematic transition in LiGa&lt;sub&gt;0.95&lt;/sub&gt;In&lt;sub&gt;0.05&lt;/sub&gt;Cr&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;O&lt;sub&gt;8&lt;/sub&gt;

Wawrzyńczak, R.; Tanaka, Y.; Yoshida, M.; Okamoto, Y.; Manuel, P.; Casati, N.; Hiroi, Z.; Takigawa, M.; Nilsen, G.J.

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.087201

Classical spin nematic transition in LiGa_0.95In_0.05Cr₄O₈

Wawrzyńczak R, Tanaka Y, Yoshida M, Okamoto Y, Manuel P, Casati N, Hiroi Z, Takigawa M & Nilsen GJ

Citation

Wawrzyńczak, R., Tanaka, Y., Yoshida, M., Okamoto, Y., Manuel, P., Casati, N., … Nilsen, G. J. (2017). Classical spin nematic transition in LiGa_0.95In_0.05Cr₄O₈. Physical Review Letters, 119(8), 087201 (5 pp.). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.087201

Persistent URL https://www.dora.lib4ri.ch/psi/islandora/object/psi:3288

We present the results of a combined ⁷Li-NMR and diffraction study on LiGa_0.95In_0.05Cr₄O₈, a member of the LiGa_1−xIn_xCr₄O₈ "breathing" pyrochlore family. Via specific heat and NMR measurements, we find that the complex sequence of first-order transitions observed for LiGaCr₄O₈ is replaced by a single second-order transition at T_f = 11 K. Neutron and x-ray diffraction rule out both structural symmetry lowering and magnetic long-range order as the origin of this transition. Instead, reverse Monte Carlo fitting of the magnetic diffuse scattering indicates that the low-temperature phase may be described as a collinear spin nematic state, characterized by a quadrupolar order parameter. This state also shows signs of short-range order between collinear spin arrangements on tetrahedra, revealed by mapping the reverse Monte Carlo spin configurations onto a three-state color model.