Magnetic and structural phase transitions in the spinel compound Fe1+x Cr2-x O4

Neutron and x-ray diffraction, magnetic susceptibility, and specific heat measurements have been used to investigate the magnetic and structural phase transitions of the spinel system Fe1+xCr2-xO4 (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 1.0). The temperature versus Fe concentration (x) phase diagram features two magnetically ordered states and four structural states below 420 K. The complexity of the phase diagram is closely related to the change in the spin and orbital degrees of freedom induced by substitution of Fe ions for Cr ions. The systematic change in the crystal structure is explained by the combined effects of Jahn-Teller distortion, spin-lattice interaction, Fe2+-Fe3+ hopping, and disorder among Fe2+, Fe3+, and Cr3+ ions.