  We report on negative thermal expansion (NTE) in the high-field,
half-magnetization plateau phase of the frustrated magnetic insulator CdCr2O4.
Using dilatometry, we precisely map the phase diagram at fields of up to 30T,
and identify a strong NTE associated with the collinear half-magnetization
plateau for B > 27T. The resulting phase diagram is compared with a microscopic
theory for spin-lattice coupling, and the origin of the NTE is identified as a
large negative change in magnetization with temperature, coming from a
nearly-localised band of spin excitations in the plateau phase. These results
provide useful guidelines for the discovery of new NTE materials.
