High-Pressure Magnetic Properties and P–T Phase Diagram of Iron Borate

Abstract

The high-pressure magnetic states of iron borate 57FeBO3 single-crystal and powder samples have been investigated in diamond anvil cells by nuclear forward scattering (NFS) of synchrotron radiation at different temperatures. In the low-pressure (0 < P < 46 GPa) antiferromagnetic phase, an increase of the Neel temperature from 350 to 595 K induced by pressure was found. At pressures 46–49 GPa, a transition from the antiferromagnetic to a new magnetic state with a weak magnetic moment (magnetic collapse) was discovered. It is attributed to the electronic transition in Fe3+ ions from the high-spin 3d 5 (S = 5/2, 6 A 1g ) to the low-spin (S = 1/2, 2 T 2g ) state (spin crossover) due to the insulator-semiconductor-type transition with extensive suppression of strong d-d electron correlations. At low temperatures, NFS spectra of the high-pressure phase indicate magnetic correlations in the low-spin system with a magnetic ordering temperature of about 50 K. A tentative magnetic P-T phase diagram of FeBO3 is proposed. An important feature of this diagram is the presence of two triple points where magnetic and paramagnetic phases of the high-spin and low-spin states coexist.