Spin correlations in Ca3Co2O6: Polarized-neutron diffraction and Monte Carlo study
We present polarized-neutron diffraction measurements of the Ising-type spin-chain compound Ca3Co2O6 above and below the magnetic ordering temperature T-N. Below T-N, a clear evolution from a pure spin-density wave (SDW) structure to a mixture of SDW and commensurate antiferromagnet (CAFM) structures is observed on cooling. For a rapidly cooled sample, the majority phase at low temperature is the