Magnetostriction results from the coupling between magnetic and elastic degrees of freedom. Though it is associated with a relatively small energy, we show that it plays an important role in determining the site of an implanted muon, so that the energetically favorable site can switch on crossing a magnetic phase transition. This surprising effect is demonstrated in the cubic rocksalt antiferromagnet MnO which undergoes a magnetostriction-driven rhombohedral distortion at the Néel temperature T_{N}=118  K. Above T_{N}, the muon becomes delocalized around a network of equivalent sites, but below T_{N} the distortion lifts the degeneracy between these equivalent sites. Our first-principles simulations based on Hubbard-corrected density-functional theory and molecular dynamics are consistent with the experimental data and help to resolve a long-standing puzzle regarding muon data on MnO, as well as having wider applicability to other magnetic oxides.

Magnetostriction-Driven Muon Localization in an Antiferromagnetic Oxide / Bonfa, Pietro; Onuorah, Ifeanyi John; Lang, Franz; Timrov, Iurii; Monacelli, Lorenzo; Wang, Chennan; Sun, Xiao; Petracic, Oleg; Pizzi, Giovanni; Marzari, Nicola; Blundell, Stephen J.; De Renzi, Roberto. - In: PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS. - ISSN 0031-9007. - 132:4(2024), pp. N/A-N/A. [10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.046701]

Magnetostriction-Driven Muon Localization in an Antiferromagnetic Oxide

Bonfa, Pietro;
2024

Abstract

Magnetostriction results from the coupling between magnetic and elastic degrees of freedom. Though it is associated with a relatively small energy, we show that it plays an important role in determining the site of an implanted muon, so that the energetically favorable site can switch on crossing a magnetic phase transition. This surprising effect is demonstrated in the cubic rocksalt antiferromagnet MnO which undergoes a magnetostriction-driven rhombohedral distortion at the Néel temperature T_{N}=118  K. Above T_{N}, the muon becomes delocalized around a network of equivalent sites, but below T_{N} the distortion lifts the degeneracy between these equivalent sites. Our first-principles simulations based on Hubbard-corrected density-functional theory and molecular dynamics are consistent with the experimental data and help to resolve a long-standing puzzle regarding muon data on MnO, as well as having wider applicability to other magnetic oxides.
2024
132
4
N/A
N/A
Magnetostriction-Driven Muon Localization in an Antiferromagnetic Oxide / Bonfa, Pietro; Onuorah, Ifeanyi John; Lang, Franz; Timrov, Iurii; Monacelli, Lorenzo; Wang, Chennan; Sun, Xiao; Petracic, Oleg; Pizzi, Giovanni; Marzari, Nicola; Blundell, Stephen J.; De Renzi, Roberto. - In: PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS. - ISSN 0031-9007. - 132:4(2024), pp. N/A-N/A. [10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.046701]
Bonfa, Pietro; Onuorah, Ifeanyi John; Lang, Franz; Timrov, Iurii; Monacelli, Lorenzo; Wang, Chennan; Sun, Xiao; Petracic, Oleg; Pizzi, Giovanni; Marza...espandi
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11380/1369391
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