Magnetostriction-Driven Muon Localization in an Antiferromagnetic Oxide
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 Neel 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.
WOS:001185766500003
2024-01-24
132
4
046701
REVIEWED
Funder | Grant Number |
PNRR MUR Project | ECS_00000033_ ECOSISTER |
NCCR MARVEL, a National Centre of Competence in Research - Swiss National Science Foundation | 205602 |
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the UK government | EP/X025861/1 |
Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) | s1073 |
STFC Scientific Computing Department's SCARF cluster | |