${\mathrm{Mn}}_3{\mathrm{Si}}_2{\mathrm{Te}}_6$ is a ferrimagnetic topological nodal-line semiconductor that exhibits unconventional colossal magnetoresistance behavior, with short-range spin fluctuations being potentially intimately linked to the emergent properties. Here we determine the short-range magnetic order and anisotropy through total neutron scattering and polarized neutron powder diffraction measurements on polycrystalline ${\mathrm{Mn}}_3{\mathrm{Si}}_2{\mathrm{Te}}_6$. Strong in-plane anisotropy is quantified on the Mn ions through extraction of the local site susceptibility tensor. The real-space local spin structure is determined through the application of magnetic pair distribution function analysis covering a wide temperature range. Short-range order over a locally frustrated trimer of three nearest neighbors is found to exist well above the long-range ferrimagnetic transition.

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• Colossal magnetoresistance
• Magnetic order
• Ferrimagnets
• Semiconductor compounds
• Topological materials
• Neutron pair-distribution function analysis
• Neutron scattering