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Piezomagnetism and magnetoelastic memory in uranium dioxide

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [4]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  2. Aix-Marseille Univ., and CNRS/IN2P3, Marseille (France)
  3. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Maria Curie-Sklodowska Univ., Lublin (Poland). Inst. of Physics
  4. Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Uranium dioxide (UO2) is a prime nuclear fuel and perhaps the most thoroughly studied actinide material to date. Its thermal and magnetic properties remain, however, a puzzle resulting from strong couplings between magnetism and lattice vibrations. The magnetic state of this cubic material is characterized by a non- collinear antiferromagnetic structure and multidomain Jahn-Teller distortions that could be behind novel thermal properties. Here we show that single crystals of UO2, subjected to magnetic fields up to 95 T in the magnetic state, exhibit the abrupt appearance of positive linear magnetostriction leading to a trigonal distortion. Upon reversal of the field the linear term also reverses sign, a hallmark of piezomagnetism. The switching phenomenon occurs at ± 18 T and persists during subsequent field reversals, demonstrating robust magneto-elastic memory. This is the first example of piezomagnetism in an actinide spin system and the magneto-elastic memory loop here is nearly an order of magnitude wider in field than those previously observed, making UO2 the hardest piezomagnet known. The possibility of an inverse phase with reduced magnetocrystalline anisotropy is considered to explain these effects.

Research Organization:
Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC07-05ID14517
OSTI ID:
1369434
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1409763
Report Number(s):
INL/JOU--16-38685
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 8; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (4)

Phase stabilization by electronic entropy in plutonium journal July 2019
Magnetostriction studies up to megagauss fields using fiber Bragg grating technique conference September 2018
Fiber Bragg Grating Dilatometry in Extreme Magnetic Field and Cryogenic Conditions journal November 2017
Parametrization of LSDA + U for noncollinear magnetic configurations: Multipolar magnetism in UO 2 journal August 2019

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36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
piezomagnetism
uranium dioxide