Single Crystal and Magnetic Structures of maricite-type AgMnVO4

Abstract

Single crystals of the ternary manganese vanadate AgMnVO4, were grown using AgVO3 flux. The structure was determined from single crystal X-ray diffraction data. The magnetic structure and properties of AgMnVO4 were characterized by magnetic susceptibility, specific heat, and low-temperature neutron powder diffraction measurements. AgMnVO4 crystallizes in the maricite-type structure with space group Pnma, a = 9.5393(12), b = 6.8132(9), c = 5.3315(7) Å and Z = 4. AgMnVO4 contains MnO4 chains made up of edge-sharing MnO6 octahedra, and these chains are interlinked by the VO4 and AgO4 tetrahedra. The specific heat measurements indicate a 3D-antiferromagnetic ordering at ~12.1 K and the neutron powder diffraction measurements at 5 K show that the Mn+2 magnetic moments are antiferromagnetically coupled within the chains which are antiferromagnetically coupled to each other.