Field-driven magnetisation steps in Ca₃Co₂O₆: A single-crystal neutron-diffraction study

¹ Department of Physics, Warwick University - Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK, EU
² Laboratoire CRISMAT, CNRS-ENSICAEN - 14050 Caen, France, EU
³ Max-Planck Institut CPfS - Nöthnitzer Str. 40, 01187 Dresden, Germany, EU
⁴ Institut Laue-Langevin - 6 rue Jules Horowitz, BP 156, 38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France, EU

C.L.Fleck@warwick.ac.uk

Received: 17 March 2010
Accepted: 14 June 2010

Abstract

The behaviour of the spin chain compound Ca₃Co₂O₆ in an applied magnetic field has been the subject of a detailed single-crystal neutron diffraction study. The low-temperature magnetisation process is shown to be accompanied by clearly visible steps in the intensity of the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic Bragg peaks. The field and temperature dependence of the long-range and the short-range components of magnetic order in Ca₃Co₂O₆ have been studied. Detailed measurements have shown that the presence of the short-range correlations cannot account for the reduction in intensity of the antiferromagnetic peaks at low temperatures.