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Published on: October 27, 2018
Neutron Scattering Studies of the Breathing Pyrochlore Antiferromagnet LiGaCr_{4}O_{8}
Zheng He1, Yiqing Gu1,2, Hongliang Wo1,2
1State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
Abstract:
We report neutron scattering measurements of the spinel oxide LiGaCr_{4}O_{8}, in which magnetic ions Cr^{3+} form a breathing pyrochlore lattice. Our experiments reveal the coexistence of a nearly dispersionless resonance mode and dispersive spin-wave excitations in the magnetically ordered state, which can be quantitatively described by a quantum spin model of hexagonal loops and linear spin-wave theory with the same set of exchange parameters, respectively. Comparison to other Cr spinel oxides reveals a linear relationship between the resonance energy and lattice constant across all these materials, which is in agreement with our hexagonal loop calculations. Our results suggest a unified picture for spin resonances in Cr spinel oxides.
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