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Published on: June 7, 2018
Noncollinear Ordering of the Orbital Magnetic Moments in Magnetite
H Elnaggar1, Ph Sainctavit2, A Juhin2
1Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, 3584 CA Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
The magnitude of the orbital magnetic moment and its role as a trigger of the Verwey transition in the prototypical Mott insulator, magnetite, remain contentious. Using 1s2p resonant inelastic x-ray scattering angle distribution (RIXS-AD), we prove the existence of noncollinear orbital magnetic ordering and infer the presence of dynamical distortion creating a polaronic precursor for the metal to insulator transition. These conclusions are based on a subtle angular shift of the RIXS-AD spectral intensity as a function of the magnetic field orientation. Theoretical simulations show that these results are only consistent with noncollinear magnetic orbital ordering. To further support these claims we perform Fe K-edge x-ray magnetic circular dichroism in order to quantify the Fe average orbital magnetic moment.
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