Zhou, HaidongZhao, Z. Y.Sun, X. F.Nieto Suárez, MarinaRivas Murias, BeatrizTsurkan, VladimirDeisenhofer, JoachimZapf, VivienRivadulla Fernández, José Francisco2018-07-162018-07-162013Zhou, H., Zhao, Z., Sun, X., Nieto Suarez, M., Rivas-Murias, B., & Tsurkan, V. et al. (2013). Low-temperature spin excitations in frustrated ZnCr2O4probed by high-field thermal conductivity. Physical Review B, 87(17). doi: 10.1103/physrevb.87.1744362469-9950http://hdl.handle.net/10347/17036The magnetoelastic excitations of spin frustrated ZnCr2O4 are studied by the magnetic field dependence of the thermal conductivity k down to 50 mK. Above the first-order magnetostructural transition at TN,S≈ 12.5 K, spin fluctuations are strongly coupled to acoustic phonons, leading to a glasslike dependence of k(T), up to Θ CW. In the symmetry broken phase below TN,S, k shows a dominant magnetic contribution even at the lowest temperatures probed in this work. Application of a magnetic field above 2.5 T destabilizes the spin-bond structure, leading to a sudden increase and a nonconventional temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity. The possibility of the coexistence of gapped and gapless excitations in this magnetic phase is discussedeng© 2013 American Physical Societyjournal article10.1103/PhysRevB.87.1744362469-9969open access