Muon diffusion and electronic magnetism in Y${}_2$Ti${}_2$O${}_7$

Abstract

We report a $\mu$SR study in a Y${}_2$Ti${}_2$O${}_7$ single crystal. We observe slow local field fluctuations at low temperature which become faster as the temperature is increased. Our analysis suggests that muon diffusion is present in this system and becomes small below 40 K and therefore incoherent. A surprisingly strong electronic magnetic signal is observed with features typical for muons thermally diffusing towards magnetic traps below $\approx 100$ K and released from them above this temperature. We attribute the traps to Ti${}^{3+}$ defects in the diluted limit. Our observations are highly relevant to the persistent spin dynamics debate on $R_2$Ti${}_2$O${}_7$ pyrochlores and their crystal quality.

References in corpus (7)

• Lightly stuffed pyrochlore structure of single-crystalline Yb2Ti2O7 grown by the optical floating zone technique
• Spin dynamics and magnetic order in magnetically frustrated Tb2Sn2O7
• Magnetic density of states at low energy in geometrically frustrated systems
• Spin Ice: Magnetic Excitations without Monopole Signatures using Muon Spin Rotation
• Magnetic order, magnetic correlations and spin dynamics in the pyrochlore antiferromagnet Er2Ti2O7
• Calculation of the Expected Zero Field Muon Relaxation Rate in the Geometrically Frustrated Rare Earth Pyrochlore Gd2Sn2O7 Antiferromagnet
• Possible Quantum Diffusion of Polaronic Muons in Dy${}_2$Ti${}_2$O${}_7$ Spin Ice

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Unconventional Magnetic Ground State in Yb${}_2$Ti${}_2$O${}_7$
• Evidence for unidimensional low-energy excitations as the origin of persistent spin dynamics in geometrically frustrated magnets
• Phonon thermal Hall effect in non-magnetic Y${}_2$Ti${}_2$O${}_7$