1205.3640 (Dirk Wulferding et al.)

Anomalous magnetic excitations in the s = 3/2 distorted triangular
antiferromagnet alpha-CaCr2O4    [PDF]

Dirk Wulferding, Kwang-Yong Choi, Peter Lemmens, Alexey N. Ponomaryov, Johan van Tol, A. T. M. Nazmul Islam, Sandor Toth, Bella Lake

The spin dynamics and magnetic excitations of the slightly distorted triangular s = 3/2 system alpha-CaCr2O4 are investigated by means of Raman spectroscopy and electron spin resonance (ESR) to elucidate its peculiar magnetic properties. Two-magnon excitations in circular RL symmetry show a multi-maximum structure with a dominant spectral weight at low energies. The temperature dependence of the ESR linewidth is described by a critical broadening DeltaHpp(T) ~ (T - T_N)^{-p} with the exponent p = 0.30(3) - 0.38(5) for temperatures above T_N = 42.6 K. The exponent is much smaller than that of other s = 3/2 triangular lattices. This is ascribed to soft roton-like modes, indicative of the instability of a helical 120{\deg} phase. As an origin we discuss a complex spin topology formed by four inequivalent nearest neighbor and sizable next-nearest neighbor interactions.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1205.3640