Field-induced spin-flop transition in a one-dimensional chain of MnV2O6

The magnetic behaviors of one-dimensional chain-structured MnV2O6 single crystals are investigated by means of magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, and heat capacity measurements. Heat capacity data show a λ-like anomaly at the Néel temperature TN = 18.3 K due to the onset of an antiferromagnetic long-range order. The magnetic entropy calculated at temperature above TN gives an indication of possible short-range magnetic ordering in our low-dimensional chain compound. The magnetic susceptibility follows the conventional antiferromagnetic feature with a positive Curie-Weiss temperature. At temperature below TN, the crystallographic b-axis, which is also parallel to the chain direction, becomes a magnetic easy axis, giving MnV2O6 a strong anisotropy in the susceptibility. Moreover, we observe that the external magnetic field can control the spin direction through the field-induced spin-flop transition as a result of competition between the magnetic energy and the crystalline anisotropy.