MAGNETIC STRUCTURE AND DOMAIN CONVERSION OF THE QUASI- 2D FRUSTRATED ANTIFERROMAGNET CuCrO₂ PROBED BY NMR
Sakhratov Yu.A., Svistov L.E., Kuhns P.L., Zhou H.D., Reyes A.P.

Received: June 17, 2014

DOI: 10.7868/S0044451014110121

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We measured ^63,65 Cu NMR spectra in a magnetic field up to about 15.5 T on a single crystal of the multiferroic triangular-lattice antiferromagnet CuCrO₂. The measurements were performed for perpendicular and parallel orientations of the magnetic field with respect to the c-axis of the crystal, and the detailed angle dependence of the spectra on the magnetic field direction in the ab-plane was studied. The shape of the spectra can be well described in the model of spiral spin structure suggested by recent neutron diffraction experiments. When the field is rotated perpendicular to the crystal c-axis, we for the first time directly observed a remarkable reorientation of the spin plane simultaneous with rotation of the incommensurate wavevector, by quantitatively deducing the conversion of the energetically less favorable domain to a more favorable one. At high enough fields parallel to the c-axis, the data are consistent with either a field-induced commensurate spiral magnetic structure or an incommensurate spiral magnetic structure with a disorder in the c direction, suggesting that high fields may have influence on interplanar ordering.