Field driven magnetostructural transitions in GeCo${}_2$O${}_4$

Abstract

In the spinel compound GeCo${}_2$O${}_4$, the Co${}^{2+}$ pyrochlore sublattice presents remarkable magnetic field-induced behaviors that we unveil through neutron and X-ray single-crystal diffraction. The Néel ordered magnetic phase is entered through a structural lowering of the cubic symmetry. In this phase, when a magnetic field is applied along a 2-fold cubic direction, a spin-flop transition of one fourth of the magnetic moments releases the magnetic frustration and triggers magnetostructural effects. At high field, these ultimately lead to an unusual spin reorientation associated to structural changes.

References in corpus (4)

• Controlling orbital moment and spin orientation in CoO layers by strain
• Magnetic frustration in the spinel compounds Ge Co_2 O_4 and Ge Ni_2 O_4
• Structural distortion below the Néel temperature in spinel GeCo${}_2$O${}_4$
• Elastic Instabilities within Antiferromagnetically Ordered Phase in the Orbitally-Frustrated Spinel GeCo${}_2$O${}_4$

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Hedgehog-lattice spin texture in classical Heisenberg antiferromagnets on the breathing pyrochlore lattice