Irreversible process of the atomic reconstruction phenomenon induced by uniaxial stress in MnP

Tamatsukuri, Hiromu   ; Kozawa, Tatsuya*; Mitsuda, Setsuo*; Fujihara, Masayoshi ; Kinjo, Katsuki*; Nawa, Kazuhiro*; Wu, H.-C.*; Sato, Taku*; Yano, Shinichiro*

Recently, applying a uniaxial stress of only 40 MPa along the axis to a single domain structure of MnP has been found to modify the fractional coordinates of each ion irreversibly with respect to , leading to the formation of crystal domains rotated by around the axis. To reveal the process of this unusual domain formation, we measure time evolution of magnetization due to the crystal domain formation and perform neutron diffraction measurements under . Threshold stress causing domain formation increases as temperature () decreases, and magnetization along the axis () increases over time on the order of hours with a -dependent relaxation time. These results suggest that this domain formation by is thermally activated. Based on these results, we achieve controlling the crystal domain formation by regulating and . Moreover, although increases on the order of hours, spatial disorder is not observed during the change in the fractional coordinates of each ion in the neutron diffraction measurement. This work paves the new way for a crystal domain engineering method by using , affecting both fundamental material science and the industrial utilization of materials.