Coexistence of the long-range and short-range magnetic order components in SrEr2O4

Single-crystal neutron diffraction reveals two distinct components to the magnetic ordering in geometrically frustrated SrEr2O4. One component is a long-range ordered k = 0 structure which appears below T-N = 0.75 K. Another component is a short-range incommensurate structure which manifests itself by the presence of a strong diffuse scattering signal. On cooling from higher temperatures down to 0.06 K, the partially ordered component does not undergo a pronounced phase transition. The magnetic moments in the long-range commensurate and short-range incommensurate structures are predominantly pointing along the [001] and [100] axes, respectively. The unusual coexistence of two magnetic structures is probed using both unpolarized and XYZ-polarized neutron scattering techniques. The observed diffuse scattering pattern can be satisfactorily reproduced with a classical Monte Carlo simulation by using a simple model based on a ladder of triangles.