Investigating Orbital Magnetic Moments in Spinel-Type MnV^sub 2^O^sub 4^ Using X-ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism

Element-specific magnetic structures, particularly orbital magnetic moments, of spinel-type MnV...O... were investigated using X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). X-ray absorption and XMCD spectra clearly reveal that the Mn... (d...) and V... (d...) states are coupled antiferromagnetically. Analyses of XMCD spectra using magneto optical sum rules revealed that small but finite orbital magnetic moments remain in both V and Mn 3d states, which accounts for the antiferro-type orbital ordering in the V sites of MnV...O... with coexisting complex and real orbital states. Additionally, the Cr doping effect in MnV...O... was examined. The XMCD spectra of Cr... (d...) L-edges exhibited the substitution of Cr ions to the V sites ferromagnetically, with low conductivity through the suppression of the orbital ordering. (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae/symbols omitted.)