Crucial influence of crystal site disorder on dynamical spectral response in artificial magnetoplumbites

High quality PbFe12O19 single crystals were grown by a solution-melt crystallization technique and characterized by synchrotron radiation diffraction structural studies, Mössbauer, Raman and infrared spectral measurements. In the terahertz and sub-terahertz range two absorption bands are observed, which are associated with the dynamics of structurally disordered lead and iron ions. We develop a structural model that comprises Fe2+ ions at the (1/2 × 4e) (0, 0, z) position with bipyramidal oxygen environment, and Pb ions at the (24l) (x, y, z) position with generic strongly distorted 12 vertex polyhedron of oxygen. The atomic displacement ellipsoids of the oxygen surrounding the lead ion are stretched towards the Pb ion within the plane perpendicular to the hexagonal axis. The suggested model is in full agreement with the local symmetry of the Fe2 and Pb ions and with the chemical composition of the sample determined by X-ray analysis.