In:
Scientific Reports, Springer Science and Business Media LLC, Vol. 8, No. 1 ( 2018-10-25)
Abstract:
This investigation reports on anisotropy in the magnetic interaction, lattice-orbital coupling and degree of phonon softening in single crystal Ni 3 TeO 6 (NTO) using temperature- and polarization-dependent X-ray absorption spectroscopic techniques. The magnetic field-cooled and zero-field-cooled measurements and temperature-dependent Ni L 3,2 -edge X-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectra of NTO reveal a weak Ni-Ni ferromagnetic interaction close to ~60 K ( T SO : temperature of the onset of spin ordering) with a net alignment of Ni spins (the uncompensated components of the Ni moments) along the crystallographic c -axis, which is absent from the ab -plane. Below the Néel temperature, T N ~ 52 K, NTO is stable in the antiferromagnetic state with its spin axis parallel to the c -axis. The Ni L 3,2 -edge X-ray linear dichroism results indicate that above T SO , the Ni 3 d e g electrons preferentially occupy the out-of-plane 3 d 3z 2 −r 2 orbitals and switch to the in-plane 3 d x 2 −y 2 orbitals below T SO . The inherent distortion of the NiO 6 octahedra and anisotropic nearest-neighbor Ni-O bond lengths between the c -axis and the ab -plane of NTO, followed by anomalous Debye-Waller factors and orbital-lattice in conjunction with spin-phonon couplings, stabilize the occupied out-of-plane (3 d 3z 2 −r 2 ) and in-plane (3 d x 2 −y 2 ) Ni e g orbitals above and below T SO , respectively.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
2045-2322
DOI:
10.1038/s41598-018-33976-w
Language:
English
Publisher:
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Publication Date:
2018
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2615211-3
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