Muon Spin Spectroscopy evidence of the violation of Anderson condition in magnetite

Abstract

We present new muon spectroscopy data on a Fe$_3$O$_4$ single crystal, revealing different spin precession patterns in five distinct temperature ranges. A careful analysis of the local field and its straightforward modeling obtains surprisingly good agreement with experiments only if a very specific model of localized charges violating Anderson condition, and a correlated muon local dynamics are implemented. Muon evidence for fluctuations just above the Verwey temperature, precursor of the low temperature charge localized state, is provided.

4 pages, 5 figures, Additional material EPAPS.pdf (2 pages, 2 figure), submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett