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Paramagnetic half-moon-shaped diffuse scattering arising from three-dimensional magnetic frustration

Nelly Natsch1,*, Tara N. Tošić1, Jian-Rui Soh2, and Nicola A. Spaldin1,†

  • *Contact author: nelly.natsch@gmail.com
  • †Contact author: nspaldin@ethz.ch
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 033373 – Published 29 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/v9pz-nxph

Abstract

We use spin dynamics simulations to determine the origin of the unusual correlated diffuse scattering, characterized by half-moon shapes bridging the magnetic Bragg peaks, observed in the polarized elastic neutron scattering from manganese tungstate, MnWO4. We first fit a Heisenberg Hamiltonian with 12 nearest-neighbor exchange interactions and single-ion anisotropy to the experimental ground-state magnon dispersion. We then show via spin dynamics simulations that our model Hamiltonian both reproduces the experimentally observed half-moon features and captures their persistence into the paramagnetic regime. Moreover, we identify the three-dimensional, competing antiferromagnetic interactions driving this behavior. Our work complements earlier studies of half-moon-shaped signatures in pyrochlore and triangular structures, by providing insight into their origin and showing that the half moons in MnWO4 result from three-dimensional competing exchange interactions, in the absence of the spin-liquid behavior with which they are usually associated.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 033373– Published 29 September, 2026
  • Received 29 April 2025
  • Accepted 20 August 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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