Magnetic structure and dynamics inα- andβ-phase solid oxygen

Abstract
We have carried out a polarized neutron scattering study of α- and β-phase solid oxygen. The diffuse quasielastic scattering in the β phase is suggestive of three-sublattice noncollinear short-range order with an in-plane correlation length of 9 ± 1 Å. α-phase oxygen exhibits strong inelastic magnetic scattering with the magnon density of states peaking at 10 ± 1 meV. A two-dimensional model is shown to describe well the magnetic properties of both phases.