Short-Range Correlations in Magnetite above the Verwey Temperature

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevX.4.011040

Authors: Alexey Bosak (ESRF) , Dmitry Chernyshov (ESRF) , Moritz Hoesch (Diamond Light Source) , P Piekarz (Polish Academy of Sciences) , Mathieu Le Tacon (Max Planck Institute) , Michael Krisch (ESRF) , Andrzej Kozlowski (AGH-University of Science and Technology) , Andrzej M. Oles (Max Planck Institute) , Krzysztof Parlinski (Polish Academy of Sciences)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Physical Review X , VOL 4 (1) , PAGES 011040

State: Published (Approved)
Published: March 2014

Abstract: Magnetite, Fe3O4, is the first magnetic material discovered and utilized by mankind in Ancient Greece, yet it still attracts attention due to its puzzling properties. This is largely due to the quest for a full and coherent understanding of the Verwey transition that occurs at TV=124K and is associated with a drop of electric conductivity and a complex structural phase transition. A recent detailed analysis of the structure, based on single crystal diffraction, suggests that the electron localization pattern contains linear three-Fe-site units, the so-called trimerons. Here, we show that whatever the electron localization pattern is, it partially survives up to room temperature as short-range correlations in the high-temperature cubic phase, easily discernible by diffuse scattering. Additionally, ab initio electronic structure calculations reveal that characteristic features in these diffuse scattering patterns can be correlated with the Fermi surface topology.

Subject Areas: Physics, Materials

Facility: ESRF; SLS

Added On: 10/12/2014 21:42

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