Neutron powder diffraction study of the two-dimensional triangular lattice antiferromagnet CuCrO₂

Abstract

An S=3/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a triangular lattice CuCrO2, in which stacking of the triangular lattice of magnetic Cr atoms forms a layered rhombohedral antiferromagnet, is studied by neutron powder diffraction. In the paramagnetic phase the powder diffraction pattern shows asymmetry, which proves a two-dimensional character. In the ordered phase, magnetic Bragg scattering has large width, indicating that the scattering is distributed on a line (1/31/3 zeta ) with peaks where zeta takes integer values. Although the magnetic long-range order is established in the c plane, correlation in the c direction is finite or the modulation vector is distributed on the line. Intensity of magnetic reflections is consistent with the 120 degrees structure in the a-c plane with moment (3.1+or-0.2) mu B.