Ultrasound velocity measurements in orbital-degenerate frustrated spinel MgV2O4

Ultrasound velocity measurements of the orbital-degenerate frustrated spinel MgV2O4 are performed in the disorder-free high-purity single crystal which exhibits successive structural and antiferromagnetic phase transitions, and in the disorder-introduced single crystal which exhibits spin-glass-like behavior. The measurements reveal coexisting two types of anomalous temperature dependence of the elastic moduli in the cubic paramagnetic phase: Curie-type softening with decreasing temperature, and softening with a characteristic minimum with decreasing temperature. These elastic anomalies should respectively originate from the coexisting orbital fluctuations and spin-cluster excitations.