Valence states and spin structure of spinel FeV2O4 with different orbital degrees of freedom

The electronic structure of spinel FeV2O4, which contains two Jahn-Teller active Fe and V ions, has been investigated by employing soft x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), soft x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). XAS indicates that V ions are trivalent and Fe ions are nearly divalent. The signs of V and Fe 2p XMCD spectra are opposite to each other. It is found that the effect of the V 3d spin-orbit interaction on the V 2p XMCD spectrum is negligible, indicating that the orbital ordering of V t2g states occurs from the real orbital states and that the orbital moment of a V3+ ion is mostly quenched. NMR shows that V spins are canted to have a Yafet-Kittel-type triangular spin configuration.