Gradual pressure-induced change in the magnetic structure of the noncollinear antiferromagnet Mn3Ge

Article

关键词: TRIANGULAR SPIN CONFIGURATION;    WEAK FERROMAGNETISM;    THERMAL-EXPANSION;    ORDER;    MN3SN;    MAGNETOSTRICTION;    DIFFRACTION;    DISORDER;   

DOI  :  10.1103/PhysRevB.97.214402

来源: SCIE

【 摘 要 】

By means of powder neutron diffraction we investigate changes in the magnetic structure of the coplanar noncollinear antiferromagnet Mn3Ge caused by an application of hydrostatic pressure up to 5 GPa. At ambient conditions the kagome layers of Mn atoms in Mn3Ge order in a triangular 120 degrees spin structure. Under high pressure the spins acquire a uniform out-of-plane canting, gradually transforming the magnetic texture to a noncoplanar configuration. With increasing pressure the canted structure fully transforms into the collinear ferromagnetic one. We observed that magnetic order is accompanied by a noticeable magnetoelastic effect, namely, spontaneous magnetostriction. The latter induces an in-plane magnetostrain of the hexagonal unit cell at ambient pressure and flips to an out-of-plane strain at high pressures in accordance with the change of the magnetic structure.

【 授权许可】

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