Distinguishing a disordered antiferromagnet from a spin glass

Distinguish experimentally between a dilute disordered antiferromagnetic state and a canonical spin-glass state in SrCrO3 thin films by determining whether their low-temperature muon-spin-relaxation behavior reflects disordered antiferromagnetism or spin-glass dynamics, using additional field- and temperature-dependent weak-transverse-field μSR measurements.

Background

Muon spin relaxation measurements reveal magnetic disorder and a broad magnetic transition in the SrCrO3 films. The temperature-dependent stretched-exponential exponent β approaches approximately one at low temperature, which is consistent with disorder or slow spin fluctuations, while remaining higher than values typically associated with canonical spin glasses.

The authors favor a disordered antiferromagnetic interpretation, but explicitly acknowledge that the available β analysis cannot conclusively distinguish this state from a canonical spin glass. They identify additional field- and temperature-dependent weak-transverse-field μSR measurements as necessary to resolve the magnetic ground-state character.