Sale Matthew, Avdeev Maxim, Mohamed Zakiah, Ling Chris D, Barpanda Prabeer
Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization, Locked Bag 2001, Kirrawee DC, NSW 2232, Australia.
Dalton Trans. 2017 May 16;46(19):6409-6416. doi: 10.1039/c7dt00978j.
Twisted-melilite dipotassium cobalt pyrophosphate (KCoPO, P4/mnm, #136), originally reported by Gabelica-Robert (1981), was synthesized in powder form by a standard solid-state reaction route. The magnetic properties of the material were studied by magnetometry and its magnetic structure determined using neutron powder diffraction for the first time. Below T = 11 K, the material adopts a G-type antiferromagnetic structure with moments aligned in the ab-plane (magnetic space group Pn'nm, #58.3.473). Ab initio calculations were performed to examine the isotropic magnetic spin exchange parameters as well as the preferred direction of magnetic moments due to spin-orbit coupling. The relationship between crystal structure geometry and the strength of the magnetic interactions was examined and compared to those of melilite-type SrCoGeO.
