A case for resonant x-ray Bragg diffraction by a collinear antiferromagnet Li2Ni3P4O14

Abstract

Magnetic axial and polar (Dirac) nickel multipoles contribute to resonant x-ray Bragg amplitudes in a symmetry informed analysis of monoclinic Li2Ni3P4O14 presented for future diffraction experiments. Magnetic long-range order below a temperature 14.5 K can be viewed as a two-dimensional trimerized antiferromagnet with Ni ions in two Wyckoff positions in the centrosymmetric magnetic space group P21/c. It permits the coupling to circular polarization in the primary x-ray beam, unlike the corresponding diffraction by an antiferromagnet characterized by anti-inversion and a linear magnetoelectric effect, e.g., historically significant chromium sesquioxide (Cr2O3) and Cu2(MoO4)(SeO3) (Lovesey & van der Laan, 2024). The space group is inferred from neutron Bragg diffraction patterns, without an allowance for permitted Dirac dipoles (anapoles) and quadrupoles (Chikara et al., 2025).