%0 Journal Article
%T Strong competition between orbital-ordering and itinerancy in a frustrated spinel vanadate
%A J. Ma
%A J. H. Lee
%A S. E. Hahn
%A Tao Hong
%A H. B. Cao
%A A. A. Aczel
%A Z. L. Dun
%A M. B. Stone
%A W. Tian
%A Y. Qiu
%A J. R. D. Copley
%A H. D. Zhou
%A R. S. Fishman
%A M. Matsuda
%J Physics
%D 2014
%I arXiv
%R 10.1103/PhysRevB.91.020407
%X The crossover from localized- to itinerant-electron behavior is associated with many intriguing phenomena in condensed-matter physics. In this paper, we investigate the crossover from localized to itinerant regimes in the spinel system Mn$_{1-x}$Co$_x$V$_2$O$_4$. At low Co doping, orbital order (OO) of the localized electrons on the V3+ ions suppresses magnetic frustration by triggering a tetragonal distortion. With Co doping, electronic itinerancy melts the OO and suppresses the structural phase transition while the reduced spin-lattice coupling produces magnetic frustration. Neutron scattering measurements and first-principles-guided spin models reveal that the non-collinear state at high Co doping is produced by weakened local anisotropy and enhanced Co-V spin interactions.
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/1407.4143v2