Pressure evolution of the EFG and magnetic hyperfine field in the layered antiferromagnet FeI2

When FeI₂ is subjected to pressures of up to 20 GPa, a change of approximately 20% occurs in the unit cell volume.⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy (MS) in a diamondanvil cell has been used to monitor the pressure evolution of the hyperfine interaction parameters of this layered antiferromagnetic insulator. The pressure dependence of the quadrupole splittingQS at 296 K exhibits a maximum at 12 GPa and the saturation magnetic hyperfine fieldH ₀ increases from 7.4 T at ambient pressure to 12 T at 18 GPa. A qualitative analysis identifies the pressure evolution ofQS with changes in the trigonal component of the crystal field splitting. The pressure variation ofH ₀ is attributed to an increase in the average value of the 3d charge density distribution.