Frustration-induced nanometre-scale inhomogeneity in a triangular antiferromagnet

A. Zorko (), O. Adamopoulos, M. Komelj, D. Arčon and A. Lappas
Additional contact information
A. Zorko: Jožef Stefan Institute
O. Adamopoulos: Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser, Foundation for Research and Technology—Hellas
M. Komelj: Jožef Stefan Institute
D. Arčon: Jožef Stefan Institute
A. Lappas: Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser, Foundation for Research and Technology—Hellas

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Phase inhomogeneity of otherwise chemically homogenous electronic systems is an essential ingredient leading to fascinating functional properties, such as high-Tc superconductivity in cuprates, colossal magnetoresistance in manganites and giant electrostriction in relaxors. In these materials distinct phases compete and can coexist owing to intertwined ordered parameters. Charge degrees of freedom play a fundamental role, although phase-separated ground states have been envisioned theoretically also for pure spin systems with geometrical frustration that serves as a source of phase competition. Here we report a paradigmatic magnetostructurally inhomogenous ground state of the geometrically frustrated α-NaMnO2 that stems from the system’s aspiration to remove magnetic degeneracy and is possible only due to the existence of near-degenerate crystal structures. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction, nuclear magnetic resonance and muon spin relaxation show that the spin configuration of a monoclinic phase is disrupted by magnetically short-range-ordered nanoscale triclinic regions, thus revealing a novel complex state of matter.

Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms4222 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms4222

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4222

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().