{\alpha}-SrCr2O4 has a triangular planar lattice of d3 Cr3+ made from edge sharing CrO6 octahedra; the plane shows a very small orthorhombic distortion from hexagonal symmetry. With a Weiss temperature of -596 K and a three-dimensional magnetic ordering temperature of 43 K, the magnetic system is quasi two-dimensional and frustrated. Neutron powder diffraction shows that the ordered state is an incommensurate helical magnet, with an in-plane propagation vector of k = (0,0.3217(8),0). Temperature dependent synchrotron powder diffraction characterization of the structure shows an increase in the inter-plane spacing on cooling below 100 K and an inflection in the cell parameters at the magnetic ordering temperature. These anomalies indicate the presence of a moderate degree of magneto-structural coupling.
@article{arxiv.1102.3125,
title = {Helical magnetism and structural anomalies in triangular lattice {\alpha}-SrCr2O4},
author = {S E Dutton and E Climent-Pascual and P W Stephens and J P Hodges and A Huq and C L Broholm and R J Cava},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1102.3125},
year = {2011}
}