Spin waves and phonons in a paraelectric antiferromagnet EuTiO3

Perovskite titanates ATiO3 (A=Ba,Pb,Sr,Ca,Cd,or Eu) are widely studied for their interesting instabilities and broad applications. A ferroelectric (FE) transition occurs in Ba, Pb, and Cd titanates, but not in SrTiO3 (STO) or EuTiO3 (ETO). In the case of STO, fluctuations yield a quantum paraelectric state, but whether ETO is quantum paraelectric remains an open question. Despite a number of similarities with well-studied STO, ETO is also unique owing to the magnetic Eu ions. By applying a tuning parameter, such as bi-axial tension, ETO can be turned into a FE ferromagnet, the ideal multiferroic. [J. H. Lee, et al., Nature 466, 954 (2010)] Studies of spin-spin and spin-lattice couplings in ETO are of great interest not only from a fundamental standpoint, but also for technological applications. We successfully grew a large, high-quality isotopically-enriched ETO crystal for neutron scattering. The crystal and magnetic structures were characterized with single crystal diffraction at HB-3A at HFIR at ORNL. The spin waves and phonons were measured in the temperature range of 1.5-400 K with CNCS at SNS and HB-3 at HFIR at ORNL. In this presentation, we will discuss structural instabilities, spin-spin interactions, and spin-phonon couplings in ETO.