Incommensurate atomic and magnetic modulations in the spin-frustrated beta-NaMnO2 triangular lattice

The layered ?-NaMnO2, a promising Na-ion energy-storage material, has been investigated for its triangular lattice capability to promote complex magnetic configurations that may release symmetry restrictions for the coexistence of ferroelectric and magnetic orders. The complexity of the neutron powder diffraction patterns underlines that the routinely adopted commensurate structural models are inadequate. Instead, a single-phase superspace symmetry description is necessary, demonstrating that the material crystallizes in a compositionally modulated q = (0.077(1), 0, 0) structure. Here Mn3+ Jahn-Teller distorted MnO6 octahedra form corrugated layer stacking sequences of the ?-NaMnO2 type, which are interrupted by flat sheets of the ?-like oxygen topology. Spontaneous long-range collinear antiferromagnetic order, defined by the propagation vector k = (1/2, 1/2, 1/2), appears below TN1 = 200 K. Moreover, a second transition into a spatially modulated properscrew magnetic state (k ± q) is established at TN2 = 95 K, with an antiferromagnetic order parameter resembling that of a two-dimensional (2D) system. The evolution of 23Na NMR spin-lattice relaxation identifies a magnetically inhomogeneous state in the intermediate T region (TN2

Keywords:

• Hexagonal lattice
• Spins
• Spin-½
• Antiferromagnetism
• Manganite
• Condensed matter physics
• Inelastic scattering
• Magnetism
• Materials science
• Excitation

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