Influence of disorder on the structural phase transition and magnetic interactions in Ba$_{3-x}$Sr$_x$Cr$_2$O$_8$

TL;DR

This study investigates how disorder affects the structural and magnetic properties of Ba$_{3-x}$Sr$_x$Cr$_2$O$_8$, revealing that disorder-induced structural transitions significantly influence magnetic interactions and frustration.

Contribution

It demonstrates that disorder and a Jahn-Teller transition explain the nonlinear variation of magnetic interactions in Ba$_{3-x}$Sr$_x$Cr$_2$O$_8$, beyond average structural effects.

Findings

Disorder influences the structural transition and magnetic interactions.

Jahn-Teller transition lifts orbital degeneracy and reduces magnetic frustration.

Structural details at low temperatures explain the variation in magnetic coupling.

Abstract

The spin dimer system $\mathrm{Ba}_{3-x}\mathrm{Sr}_x\mathrm{Cr_2O_8}$ is a solid solution of the triplon Bose-Einstein condensation candidates $\mathrm{Ba_3Cr_2O_8}$ and $\mathrm{Sr_3Cr_2O_8}$. The magnetic intradimer interaction constant $J_0$ in this spin system can be tuned by varying the Sr content $x$. Very interestingly, this variation of $J_0$ with $x$ is highly nonlinear. In the present study, we show that this peculiar behavior of $J_0$ can be only partly explained by the changes in the average crystal structure alone. We report on neutron powder diffraction experiments to probe the corresponding structural details. Performing extended H\"{u}ckel tight binding calculations based on those structural details obtained at liquid helium temperatures, we found that the change of the magnetic interaction constant can be well reproduced by taking into account the presence of a structural transition due to the Jahn-Teller active Cr$^{5+}$-ions. This transition, lifting the orbital degeneracy and thereby the magnetic frustration in the system, is heavily influenced by disorder in the system arising from partially exchanging Ba with Sr.