المؤلفون: |
Lawler KV; Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada 89154, United States., Smith D; Department of Physics and Astronomy and HiPSEC, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada 89154, United States., Evans SR; European Synchrotron Radiation Facility - 71, avenue des Martyrs, CS 40220, 38043 Grenoble Cedex 9, France., Dos Santos AM; Neutron Scattering Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States., Molaison JJ; Neutron Scattering Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States., Bos JG; Institute of Chemical Sciences, Centre for Advanced Energy Storage and Recovery, School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, United Kingdom., Mutka H; Institut Laue-Langevin, 71 avenue des Martyrs, CS 20156, 38042 Grenoble, France., Henry PF; ISIS Pulsed Neutron Muon Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell Campus, Didcot OX11 0QX, United Kingdom., Argyriou DN; European Spallation Source ERIC, P.O. Box 176, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden., Salamat A; Department of Physics and Astronomy and HiPSEC, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada 89154, United States., Kimber SAJ; ICB-Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Carnot de Bourgogne, Bâtiment Sciences Mirande, Université Bourgogne-Franche Comté, Université de Bourgogne, 9 Avenue Alain Savary, B.P. 47870, 21078 Dijon Cedex, France. |
مستخلص: |
The AMnO 2 delafossites (A = Na, Cu) are model frustrated antiferromagnets, with triangular layers of Mn 3+ spins. At low temperatures ( T N = 65 K), a C 2/ m → P 1̅ transition is found in CuMnO 2 , which breaks frustration and establishes magnetic order. In contrast to this clean transition, A = Na only shows short-range distortions at T N . Here, we report a systematic crystallographic, spectroscopic, and theoretical investigation of CuMnO 2 . We show that, even in stoichiometric samples, nonzero anisotropic Cu displacements coexist with magnetic order. Using X-ray/neutron diffraction and Raman scattering, we show that high pressures act to decouple these degrees of freedom. This manifests as an isostuctural phase transition at ∼10 GPa, with a reversible collapse of the c -axis. This is shown to be the high-pressure analogue of the c -axis negative thermal expansion seen at ambient pressure. Density functional theory (DFT) simulations confirm that dynamical instabilities of the Cu + cations and edge-shared MnO 6 layers are intertwined at ambient pressure. However, high pressure selectively activates the former, before an eventual predicted reemergence of magnetism at the highest pressures. Our results show that the lattice dynamics and local structure of CuMnO 2 are quantitatively different from nonmagnetic Cu delafossites and raise questions about the role of intrinsic inhomogeneity in frustrated antiferromagnets. |