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Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
Classical Spin Nematic Transition in LiGa_{0.95}In_{0.05}Cr_{4}O_{8}
R Wawrzyńczak1, Y Tanaka2, M Yoshida2
1Institut Laue-Langevin, 6 rue Jules Horowitz, 38042 Grenoble, France.
Abstract:
We present the results of a combined ^{7}Li-NMR and diffraction study on LiGa_{0.95}In_{0.05}Cr_{4}O_{8}, a member of the LiGa_{1-x}In_{x}Cr_{4}O_{8} "breathing" pyrochlore family. Via specific heat and NMR measurements, we find that the complex sequence of first-order transitions observed for LiGaCr_{4}O_{8} is replaced by a single second-order transition at T_{f}=11 K. Neutron and x-ray diffraction rule out both structural symmetry lowering and magnetic long-range order as the origin of this transition. Instead, reverse Monte Carlo fitting of the magnetic diffuse scattering indicates that the low-temperature phase may be described as a collinear spin nematic state, characterized by a quadrupolar order parameter. This state also shows signs of short-range order between collinear spin arrangements on tetrahedra, revealed by mapping the reverse Monte Carlo spin configurations onto a three-state color model.
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