2025/03/13 by Yue Dong, Dong, Yue, David Yang +9
Physics and Astronomy · Materials Science · #Crystallography and Radiation Phenomena #Advanced X-ray Imaging Techniques #Magnetic Properties and Synthesis of Ferrites
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2503.10417
We report the results of synchrotron Bragg Coherent X-ray Diffraction Imaging (BCDI) experiments to investigate domain formation in a micron-sized magnetite crystal undergoing the Verwey transition at low temperature. A strong splitting of the measured 311 Bragg reflection was observed in the low-temperature phase, indicating the formation of domains. BCDI revealed pronounced strain distributions, characterized by a clear layered stripe domain structure in real-space. Stripes were seen only along the [001] crystallographic direction, normal to the substrate surface direction, breaking the symmetry of the cubic high-temperature phase. It is argued that other domain directions were suppressed by the sample mounting orientation. More surprisingly, only a single domain orientation was observed, suggesting an additional symmetry-breaking influence originating from the shape of the crystal.