Figure 1

(a) Pyrochlore lattice. The bold lines mark examples of positions of the hexamer and heptamers shown in (b) among equivalent positions. (b) Snapshots of spin molecular models. The arrows indicate spins, which dynamically fluctuate in arbitrary directions in keeping with the relative correlations. The total exchange interaction energies in the molecules are also shown, where $J_1$ is the magnitude of the nearest-neighbor exchange interaction energy. (c) $E$ dependence of $\mathit{Q}$-integrated intensity measured in an $L$ phase (left panel) and $O$ phase (right panel). The integration ranges are $0<h<2$, $0<k<2$, and $0<l<2$ reciprocal lattice units (rlu) in the low-$Q$ data and $0<h<2$, $5<k<7$, and $0<l<2$ rlu in the high-$Q$ data. The arrows indicate the magnetic peaks and shoulders. All the intensities can be compared each other in the units, and the standard errors of detected neutron counts are smaller than the symbols used. The lines are guides to the eye. (d), (e) Measured inelastic neutron scattering intensity distributions in ($h$, $k$, $l$, $E$) space in an $L$ phase (22 K) and $O$ phase (8 K), respectively. Each set of three-abreast panels corresponds to the data for the given $E$ measured in the $hk0$, $hk1$, and $hk2$ planes. The intensities were integrated over ranges of $\pm 0.2$ rlu and $\pm 1.0\mathrm{meV}$ around the given $l$ and $E$, respectively. The vertical tone indicates the linear scale intensity in arbitrary units in (d)–(f). The three first quadrants, boxed by white lines in the $hk0$ planes, show areas previously reported [7]. (f) One-to-one correspondence between calculated patterns as identified by the molecular models shown in (b).Reuse & Permissions