- Editors' Suggestion
X-ray diffraction study of the magnetization plateau above 40 T in the frustrated helimagnet
Phys. Rev. B 111, 214441 – Published 27 June, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/6d8j-9lf5
Abstract
, which contains a chromium breathing pyrochlore network, exhibits diverse magnetic phases, including an incommensurate helical state below 31 K and a -magnetization plateau above 40 T, owing to the interplay between magnetic frustration and spin-lattice coupling. Here, we perform a single-shot powder x-ray diffraction experiment on in a pulsed high magnetic field of 55 T, revealing an orthorhombic-to-cubic (or pseudocubic) structural transition upon entering the -magnetization plateau phase at low temperatures. This observation suggests the emergence of a commensurate ferrimagnetic order, where a 3-up–1-down spin configuration is realized in each small tetrahedron, and the all up or all down in each large tetrahedron. We propose two types of 16-sublattice magnetic structures, which are degenerate within exchange interactions between the first-, second-, and third-nearest neighbors.