Probing magnetoelastic coupling and structural changes in magnetoelectric gallium ferrite.

Temperature dependent x-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopic studies were carried out on flux-grown single crystals of gallium ferrite with a Ga:Fe ratio of 0.9:1.1. Site occupancy calculations from the Rietveld refinement of the x-ray data led to an estimated magnetic moment of ~0.60 μ(B)/f.u. which was in good agreement with the experimental data. A combination of these two measurements indicates that there is no structural phase transition in the material between 18 and 700 K. A detailed line shape analysis of the Raman mode at ~374 cm(-1) revealed a discontinuity in the peak position data indicating the presence of spin-phonon coupling in gallium ferrite. A correlation of the peak frequency with the magnetization data led to two distinct regions across a temperature ~180 K with appreciable change in the spin-phonon coupling strength from ~0.9 (T < 180 K) to 0.12 cm(-1) (180 K < T < T(c)). This abrupt change in the coupling strength at ~180 K strongly suggests an altered spin dynamics across this temperature.