The Verwey transition in Fe3O4: A single crystal muon investigation

We performed a preliminary zero-field mu SR investigation on a Fe3O4 single crystal in a temperature range (5-275 K) including the Verwey transition, T-V = 120 K. Despite the relatively small statistics employed, we identify a larger number of distinct precession frequencies where previous experiments detected only one. This indicates the very good quality of our specimen and allows us to monitor the abrupt changes in the local muon environment at T-V. The discussion of these data is relevant to the on-going dispute on the detailed nature of the Verwey transition. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.