Molecular spin resonance in the geometrically frustrated MgCr2O4 magnet by inelastic neutron scattering

Abstract: We measured two magnetic modes with finite and discrete energies in an antiferromagnetic ordered phase of a geometrically frustrated magnet MgCr2O4 by single-crystal inelastic neutron scattering, and clarified the spatial spin correlations of the two levels: one is an antiferromagnetic hexamer and the other is an antiferromagnetic heptamer. Since these correlation types are emblematic of quasielastic scattering with geometric frustration, our results indicate instantaneous suppression of lattice distortion in an ordered phase by spin-lattice coupling, probably also supported by orbital and charge. The common features in the two levels, intermolecular independence and discreteness of energy, suggest that the spin molecules are interpreted as quasiparticles (elementary excitations with energy quantum) of highly frustrated spins, in analogy with the Fermi liquid approximation.