Kagome staircase compound Co3V2O8 in an applied magnetic field: single-crystal neutron-diffraction study

TL;DR

This study investigates the magnetic phase transitions of the Kagome staircase compound Co3V2O8 using single-crystal neutron diffraction, revealing complex field-dependent magnetic behaviors and disorder effects.

Contribution

It provides detailed neutron diffraction analysis of magnetic phase transitions and disorder in Co3V2O8 under applied magnetic fields, highlighting novel magnetic phenomena.

Findings

Disorder observed in magnetic Bragg peaks at low temperatures.

Field-induced transition from ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic state at about 1 T.

Complex sequence of magnetic phase transitions depending on field orientation.

Abstract

The magnetic properties of Co3V2O8 have been studied by single-crystal neutron-diffraction. In zero magnetic field, the observed broadening of the magnetic Bragg peaks suggests the presence of disorder both in the low-temperature ferromagnetic and in the higher-temperature antiferromagnetic state. The field dependence of the intensity and position of the magnetic reflections in Co3V2O8 reveals a complex sequence of phase transitions in this Kagome staircase compound. For H//a, a commensurate-incommensurate-commensurate transition is found in a field of 0.072 T in the antiferromagnetic phase at 7.5 K. For H//c at low-temperature, an applied field induces an unusual transformation from a ferromagnetic to an antiferromagnetic state at about 1 T accompanied by a sharp increase in magnetisation.