Competing ferri- and antiferromagnetic phases in geometrically frustrated LuFe2O4

Phys Rev Lett. 2012 Jan 20;108(3):037206. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.037206. Epub 2012 Jan 20.

Abstract

We present a detailed study of magnetism in LuFe(2)O(4), combining magnetization measurements with neutron and soft x-ray diffraction. The magnetic phase diagram in the vicinity of T(N) involves a metamagnetic transition separating an antiferro- and a ferrimagnetic phase. For both phases the spin structure is refined by neutron diffraction. Observed diffuse magnetic scattering far above T(N) is explained in terms of near degeneracy of the magnetic phases.