Fincher–Burke excitations in single-Q chromium

Abstract.

The low-energy excitations of incommensurate antiferromagnetic Cr have been investigated by means of high-resolution, inelastic neutron scattering with unpolarized, cold neutrons within an energy range E<9 meV. In agreement with previous measurements we observe Fincher–Burke excitations in the transverse spin density wave phase that appear between the unresolved spin-wave peaks at the incommensurate positions Q^±=(1±δ,0,0). In contrast to the previous measurements, our high-resolution data shows that the Fincher–Burke modes do not follow a linear dispersion. Therefore, they have nothing in common with the acoustic phonon branch. The major part of the scattering is concentrated in the range 4 meV<E<8 meV.