Local spin resonance and spin-peierls-like phase transition in a geometrically frustrated antiferromagnet
Inelastic magnetic neutron scattering reveals a localized spin resonance at 4.5 meV in the ordered phase of the geometrically frustrated cubic antiferromagnet ZnCr2O4. The resonance develops abruptly from quantum critical fluctuations upon cooling through a first order transition to a co-planar antiferromagnet at T(c) = 12. 5(5) K. We argue that this transition is a three dimensional analog of the spin-Peierls transition.
Lee
S
University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742 and NIST Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, USA.
Broholm
C
Kim
TH
Ratcliff
W
Cheong
SW