A muon-spin relaxation (μSR) study of the geometrically frustrated magnets Gd3Ga5O12 and ZnCr2O4

We present the results of muon-spin-relaxation experiments for two materials which show geometric frustration. ZnCr2O4 has a spinel structure with S=3/2 spins on a lattice of corner-sharing tetrahedra. Our experiments show that a local magnetic field which is quasi-static on the muon timescale develops below Tc=12.5 K, a transition which has been associated with a three-dimensional analogue of the spin-Peierls transition. In contrast, Gd3Ga5O12 has a garnet structure with S=3/2 spins arranged on interpenetrating triangular sublattices. In this material the muon data exhibit a temperature-dependent spin-relaxation rate indicative of slow spin fluctuations. We discuss these differing behaviours and relate them to the underlying physics in the two materials. (author). Letter-to-the-editor