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Abstract:

Powder x-ray diffraction patterns of magnetite (Fe3O 4) have been recorded at 90 K, below the Verwey transition, at three wavelengths in the pre- to mid-edge region of the 7.1 keV Fe K absorption. Simultaneous fitting of these profiles has been used to refine the anomalous scattering coefficients for the octahedral B site iron atoms. The refined values give direct evidence for a significant degree (46%) of Fe²⁺/Fe ³⁺ charge ordering in magnetite, and provide new constraints on the number of possible charge ordered models. © 2005 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Abstract:

The commensurate and incommensurate magnetic structures of the magnetoelectric system YMn$_{2}$O$_{5}$, as determined from neutron diffraction, were found to be spin-density waves lacking a global center of symmetry. We propose a model, based on a simple magneto-elastic coupling to the lattice, which enables us to predict the polarization based entirely on the observed magnetic structure. Our data accurately reproduce the temperature-dependence of the spontaneous polarization, in particular its sign reversal at the commensurate-incommensurate transition.