Competing energetic states in γ-Fe2WO6 with strong spin-charge-lattice coupling

We report magnetic and electronic properties of gamma-Fe2WO6 via neutron powder-diffraction measurements and first-principles density-function theory calculations. We reveal a magnetic ground state with two phases coexisting in which the minor phase is the same as an earlier report [Pinto et al., Acta Crystallogr., Sect. A 33, 663 (1977).], despite the fact that both materials studied have the same space group but with slightly different atomic positions. Interestingly, both magnetic phases are well captured by first-principles calculations. Furthermore, we show that these two magnetic phases are correlated with electronic properties, with one being insulating and the other being metallic. These features suggest that gamma-Fe2WO6 exhibits competing energetic states in which spin, charge, and lattice degrees of freedom are strongly coupled to each other.