Possible absence of trimeron correlations above the Verwey temperature in Fe3O4

• Verfasst von: Elnaggar, Hebatalla [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Haverkort, Maurits W. [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: Possible absence of trimeron correlations above the Verwey temperature in Fe3O4
• Verf.angabe: H. Elnaggar, R. Wang, S. Lafuerza, E. Paris, A.C. Komarek, H. Guo, Y. Tseng, D. McNally, F. Frati, M.W. Haverkort, M. Sikora, T. Schmitt, and F.M.F. de Groot
• E-Jahr: 2020
• Jahr: 6 February 2020
• Umfang: 5 S.
• Teil: volume:101
• Teil: year:2020
• Teil: number:8
• Teil: elocationid:085107
• Teil: pages:1-5
• Teil: extent:5
• Fussnoten: Im Titel ist die 3 bei Fe und die 4 bei O tiefgestellt ; Gesehen am 04.03.2020
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: Physical review
• Ort Quelle: Woodbury, NY : Inst., 2016
• Jahr Quelle: 2020
• Band/Heft Quelle: 101(2020), 8, Artikel-ID 085107, Seite 1-5
• ISSN Quelle: 2469-9969
• DOI: doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.101.085107
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• K10plus-PPN: 1691570249

Abstract

The origin of the metal to insulator transition in Fe3O4 remains a challenge due to the complexity of the system: it is a mixed valent, strongly correlated system where many interactions such as Jahn-Teller distortion, exchange, and phonons are very close in energetics. A recent interpretation of the Verwey transition as an ordering of a three-site magnetic polaron, the trimeron, has been put forward. Here we investigate the existence of the trimeron correlations in the high-temperature phase of Fe3O4 using high-resolution iron 2p3d resonant inelastic scattering magnetic linear dichroism. Guided by theoretical simulations, we reveal that the polarization dependence of the low-energy spin-orbital excitations is incompatible with tetragonal Jahn-Teller trimeron-type distortion. We conclude that the lowest-energy state of the high-temperature phase of Fe3O4 arises from an intricate interplay between trigonal crystal-field, exchange, and spin-orbit interactions.