title: Magnetostructural transitions in a frustrated magnet at high fields.
abstract: Ultrasound and magnetization studies of bond-frustrated ZnCr(2)S(4) spinel are performed in static magnetic fields up to 18 T and in pulsed fields up to 62 T. At temperatures below the antiferromagnetic transition at T(N1)≈14  K, the sound velocity as a function of the magnetic field reveals a sequence of steps followed by plateaus indicating a succession of crystallographic structures with constant stiffness. At the same time, the magnetization evolves continuously with a field up to full magnetic polarization without any plateaus in contrast to geometrically frustrated chromium oxide spinels. The observed high-field magnetostructural states are discussed within a H-T phase diagram taking into account the field and temperature evolution of three coexisting spin structures and subsequent lattice transformations induced by the magnetic field.
authors.affiliation: Experimental Physics 5, Center for Electronic Correlations and Magnetism, Institute of Physics, University of Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tsurkan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zherlitsyn
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Felea
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yasin
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Skourski
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Deisenhofer
authors.forename: H-A Krug
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: von Nidda
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lemmens
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wosnitza
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Loidl