Spin-waves in Nd2PdSi3 with coexistent ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism

Rare-earth magnetic materials often exhibit complex magnetic ordering, due to the presence of competing magnetic interactions. In our previous neutron diffraction study, we found evidence that Nd2PdSi3 is one such example, from the observation of both ferromagnetic (FM) and antiferromagnetic (AFM) Bragg peaks in the ordered phase. Here we propose to perform inelastic neutron scattering measurements on single crystals of Nd2PdSi3 in order to map the spin-wave dispersions below the ordering temperature. This will allow us to determine the underlying FM and AFM magnetic exchange interactions, giving us a microscopic understanding of how the complex magnetic ground state arises.