Thermally Induced High-Spin Low-Spin Transition in Co[Cr0.5Ga1.5]S4 Spinel
A high spin (HS) – low spin (LS) transition has been discovered in the Co[Cr0.5Ga1.5]S4 spinel, where the Co ions occupy tetrahedral sites and the Cr and Ga ions octahedral ones. The latter are diluted by the non-magnetic Ga-ions. Application of magnetic fields revealed ferrimagnetic order with a Curie temperature TC = 126 K, a strong suppression of the magnetic susceptibility () and a slight shift of TC to lower temperatures. A cusp at 15.6 K on the ac (T) curve suggests a spin frustration of the re-entrant type. Characteristic for the HS-LS transition is an inflection point at 150 K on the 1/(T) curve, a lack of the Curie-Weiss region above TC and a small value of the magnetization, 4.76 emu/g at 4.4 K and at a magnetic field of 57.5 kOe.