Successive Magnetic Ordering in CuFeO2–A New Type of Partially Disordered Phase in a Triangular Lattice Antiferromagnet–

Magnetic ordering in a rhombohedrally stacked triangular lattice antiferromagnet, CuFeO 2 was investigated on powder and single crystals by measurements of neutron diffraction, magnetic susceptibility, Mössbauer effect together with Monte Carlo simulations. CuFeO 2 was found to exhibit transitions at T N1 =16±0.5 K and T N2 =11±0.5 K. The low temperature phase has an orthorhombic magnetic unit cell with collinear moments along the c -axis, whereas the intermediate temperature phase is a partially disordered phase with a monoclinic magnetic unit cell where 1/5 of moments remain paramagnetic. The Monte Carlo simulations for the Ising spin tiangular lattice antiferromagnet can reproduce the observed successive transition in the case of the exchange parameters 4 J 3 <2 J 2 ∼ J 1 <0. This combination of exchange parameters gives an account for the stability of the collinear magnetic structure in CuFeO 2 .