Robustness of the Verwey transition against remanent strain-induced defects in magnetite
Abstract
The Verwey transition in magnetite is a benchmark electronically driven phase transition that is highly sensitive to lattice imperfections and external perturbations. Doping, deviations from oxygen stoichiometry, and irradiation-induced point defects are known to lower the Verwey transition temperature, TV. By contrast, the role of remanent strain fields and extended defect structures generated by uniaxial stress has remained largely unexplored. Here we combine dark-field x-ray microscopy (DFXM) and ac magnetic susceptibility to determine how strain-induced defects affect the Verwey transition in stoichiometric single-crystalline magnetite after uniaxial compression and unloading. The DFXM measurements were performed on two samples compressed along the same [011] direction: loading to 200 MPa generated stable line-like defects and remanent strain fields, whereas loading beyond the fracture threshold produced denser defect networks and mechanical fracture. To test the effect of a different loading geometry, we also measured the ac susceptibility of a sample fractured by compression along [001]. Real-space DFXM imaging, lattice-orientation mapping, and residual strain mapping show substantial remanent structural disorder after compression. Nevertheless, neither the transition temperature TV nor the sharpness of the transition changes measurably in any of the compressed or fractured samples. This behavior contrasts with the strong suppression of TV by point-like disorder. Our results show that extended line-like defects and remanent strain fields produced by plastic deformation do not measurably perturb the macroscopic electronic ordering responsible for the Verwey transition, thereby distinguishing the effects of point defects from those of extended slip-related defects in magnetite.
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BibTeX
@misc{gala2026robustness,
title = {{Robustness of the Verwey transition against remanent strain-induced defects in magnetite}},
author = {M. A. Gala and K. J. Grzywa and K. Komędera and R. Zalecki and A. Baczmański and Z. Kąkol and A. Pacanowska and C. M. N. Kumar and R. Rodriguez Lamas and C. Detlefs and C. Yildirim and C. Marin and J. Debray and G. Beutier and L. Ortega and A. Kozłowski and N. Barišić and J. E. Lorenzo and W. Tabiś},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.01337},
eprint = {2610.01337},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.01337},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Robustness of the Verwey transition against remanent strain-induced defects in magnetite
AU - M. A. Gala
AU - K. J. Grzywa
AU - K. Komędera
AU - R. Zalecki
AU - A. Baczmański
AU - Z. Kąkol
AU - A. Pacanowska
AU - C. M. N. Kumar
AU - R. Rodriguez Lamas
AU - C. Detlefs
AU - C. Yildirim
AU - C. Marin
AU - J. Debray
AU - G. Beutier
AU - L. Ortega
AU - A. Kozłowski
AU - N. Barišić
AU - J. E. Lorenzo
AU - W. Tabiś
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.01337
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.01337
AB - The Verwey transition in magnetite is a benchmark electronically driven phase transition that is highly sensitive to lattice imperfections and external perturbations. Doping, deviations from oxygen stoichiometry, and irradiation-induced point defects are known to lower the Verwey transition temperature, T_V. By contrast, the role of remanent strain fields and extended defect structures generated by uniaxial stress has remained largely unexplored. Here we combine dark-field x-ray microscopy (DFXM) and ac magnetic susceptibility to determine how strain-induced defects affect the Verwey transition in stoichiometric single-crystalline magnetite after uniaxial compression and unloading. The DFXM measurements were performed on two samples compressed along the same [011] direction: loading to 200 MPa generated stable line-like defects and remanent strain fields, whereas loading beyond the fracture threshold produced denser defect networks and mechanical fracture. To test the effect of a different loading geometry, we also measured the ac susceptibility of a sample fractured by compression along [001]. Real-space DFXM imaging, lattice-orientation mapping, and residual strain mapping show substantial remanent structural disorder after compression. Nevertheless, neither the transition temperature T_V nor the sharpness of the transition changes measurably in any of the compressed or fractured samples. This behavior contrasts with the strong suppression of T_V by point-like disorder. Our results show that extended line-like defects and remanent strain fields produced by plastic deformation do not measurably perturb the macroscopic electronic ordering responsible for the Verwey transition, thereby distinguishing the effects of point defects from those of extended slip-related defects in magnetite.
ER -