Competing Exchange Interactions on the Verge of a Metal-Insulator Transition in the Two-Dimensional Spiral Magnet Sr3Fe2O7

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • J. -H. Kim - , Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (Author)
  • Anil Jain - , Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) (Author)
  • M. Reehuis - , Helmholtz Centre Berlin for Materials and Energy (Author)
  • G. Khaliullin - , Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (Author)
  • D. C. Peets - , Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (Author)
  • C. Ulrich - , Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, University of New South Wales, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (Author)
  • J. T. Park - , Technical University of Munich (Author)
  • E. Faulhaber - , Technical University of Munich (Author)
  • A. Hoser - , Helmholtz Centre Berlin for Materials and Energy (Author)
  • H. C. Walker - , Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (Author)
  • D. T. Adroja - , University of Johannesburg (Author)
  • A. C. Walters - , Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (Author)
  • D. S. Inosov - , Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, TUD Dresden University of Technology (Author)
  • Andrey Maljuk - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Bernhard Keimer - , Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (Author)

Abstract

We report a neutron scattering study of the magnetic order and dynamics of the bilayer perovskite Sr3Fe2O7, which exhibits a temperature-driven metal-insulator transition at 340 K. We show that the Fe4+ moments adopt incommensurate spiral order below T-N = 115 K and provide a comprehensive description of the corresponding spin-wave excitations. The observed magnetic order and excitation spectra can be well understood in terms of an effective spin Hamiltonian with interactions ranging up to third-nearest-neighbor pairs. The results indicate that the helical magnetism in Sr3Fe2O7 results from competition between ferromagnetic double-exchange and antiferromagnetic superexchange interactions whose strengths become comparable near the metal-insulator transition. They thus confirm a decades-old theoretical prediction and provide a firm experimental basis for models of magnetic correlations in strongly correlated metals.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number147206
Number of pages5
JournalPhysical review letters
Volume113
Issue number14
Publication statusPublished - 3 Oct 2014
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

External IDs

Scopus 84908032090

Keywords

Keywords

  • CRYSTALS, SYSTEMS, ORDER