ABSTRACT
The magnetic phase diagram of Sr[Formula: see text]Ca[Formula: see text]Co[Formula: see text]P[Formula: see text] as a function of hydrostatic pressure and temperature is investigated by means of high pressure muon spin rotation, relaxation and resonance ([Formula: see text]SR). The weak pressure dependence for the [Formula: see text] compounds suggests that the rich phase diagram of Sr[Formula: see text]Ca[Formula: see text]Co[Formula: see text]P[Formula: see text] as a function of x at ambient pressure may not solely be attributed to chemical pressure effects. The [Formula: see text] compound on the other hand reveals a high pressure dependence, where the long range magnetic order is fully suppressed at [Formula: see text] kbar, which seem to be a first order transition. In addition, an intermediate phase consisting of magnetic domains is formed above [Formula: see text] kbar where they co-exist with a magnetically disordered state. These domains are likely to be ferromagnetic islands (FMI) and consist of an high- (FMI-[Formula: see text]) and low-temperature (FMI-[Formula: see text]) region, respectively, separated by a phase boundary at [Formula: see text] K. This kind of co-existence is unusual and is originating from a coupling between lattice and magnetic degrees of freedoms.
ABSTRACT
The K2Cr8O16 compound belongs to a series of quasi-1D compounds with intriguing magnetic properties that are stabilized through a high-pressure synthesis technique. In this study, a muon spin rotation, relaxation and resonance (µ+SR) technique is used to investigate the pressure dependent magnetic properties up to 25 kbar. µ+SR allows for measurements in true zero applied field and hereby access the true intrinsic material properties. As a result, a refined temperature/pressure phase diagram is presented revealing a novel low temperature/high pressure (pC1 = 21 kbar) transition from a ferromagnetic insulating to a high-pressure antiferromagnetic insulator. Finally, the current study also indicates the possible presence of a quantum critical point at pC2 ~ 33 kbar where the magnetic order in K2Cr8O16 is expected to be fully suppressed even at T = 0 K.
