Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 213, 69-76 (2012)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2012-01664-5

Regular Article

Neutron scattering study of the magnetoelectric compound GaFeO₃

¹ ICMMO - UMR 8182, Paris XI University, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
² LLB, CEA-CNRS UMR12, CE-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
³ ILL, 6 rue Jules Horowitz, 38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France
⁴ INAC, CEA-Grenoble, DRFMC-SPSMS-MDN, 17 rue des Martyrs, 38054 Grenoble Cedex 9, France

^a e-mail: monica.hatnean@cea.fr

Received: 20 July 2012
Revised: 27 September 2012
Published online: 3 December 2012

Abstract

We present a neutron scattering study carried out on single-crystals of the magnetoelectric compound GaFeO₃, prepared by the floating-zone (FZ) method. The refinement of the crystal structure indicates the existence of a large amount of iron on the gallium site, corresponding to a strong internal substitution disorder. We show that the Ga/Fe disorder and the magnetic transition temperature are weakly dependent on the growth conditions. The disorder also affects the magnetic excitations; our measurements evidence damped spin waves, well defined only close to the Brillouin zone centre.