On the magnetic properties of Y(FexCo1−x)2 compounds

The composition dependence of the mean magnetic moment of cobalt atoms in Y(Fe_xCo_1?x)₂ compounds is analysed in the local environment model. Cobalt has a magnetic moment of 1.56 μβ if there are least two Fe atoms as nearest neighbours. The maximum in the composition dependence of the transition metal moments is due to the magnetic contributions of iron atoms only. The thermal variation of reciprocal susceptibility obeys a Curie-Weiss behaviour, in addition to the Pauli paramagnetic term. Finally, the influence of the variable magnetic interactions on the transition metal moments is discussed.     

Low temperature conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy on FexGe1−x amorphous thin films

Conversion Electron Mössbauer Spectroscopy has been performed between room temperature and 4.2 K on a series of thin films 1000 Å thick of amorphous Fe_xGe_1?x alloys, 0.4 ? x ? 0.60. It shows that the onset of ferromagnetism for x > 0.4 is associated with the apparition of a small magnetic moment in Fe atoms, increasing rapidly with x. For a given composition, the distribution in the values of moments born by the Fe atoms is large, reflecting the statistical fluctuations of the nearest neighbour environment of the iron atoms.     

Site preference and magnetism of Fe3−xCrxAl0.5Si0.5

In order to gain better insight into the origin of the observed differences between Fe_3−xCr_xAl and Fe_3−xCr_xSi, alloys of Fe_3−xCr_xAl_0.5Si_0.5 (x=0, 0.125, 0.250, 0.375 and 0.5) were prepared and studied by means of X-ray and neutron diffraction as well as by magnetization measurements. Electronic structure calculations of these alloys have been performed by means of TB-LMTO-ASA method. It was expected, and experimentally verified, that the presence of silicon and aluminum atoms in 1:1 proportion will result in the independence of the lattice parameter on the iron/chromium concentration. All samples have been proved to be a single phase of the DO₃-type of structure. Theoretical and experimental results indicate that chromium atoms locate preferentially in B sublattice. Cr magnetic moments are oriented antiparallel to Fe magnetic moments. Neutron measurements show a linear dependence of the magnetic moments of Fe(A,C), Fe(B) and Cr(B) as a function of Cr concentration. However the calculated total magnetic moment decreases faster with chromium content than indicated by the experiment.     

Investigations of Sm6(Mn1-xFex)23 system

The new Sm₆(Mn_1-xFe_x)₂₃(0?x?1.0) system hasbeen synthesized and investigated in a wide temperature range by the X-ray, magnetometric and Mössbauer effect methods. The X-ray studies show that the system forms solid solutions which are isostructural with the Th₆Mn₂₃ type crystal structure throughout the entire compositional range. Both Fe-rich and Mn-rich regions of the system are magnetically ordered and are separated from each other by the non-magnetically ordered 0.22?x?0.33 region. The substitution of Fe atoms for Mn atoms in the Mn-rivh region and similarly of Mn atoms for Fe atoms in the Fe-rich region decreases both the Curie temperature and the value of the magnetic moment per molecule. The temperature dependence of the reciprocal susceptibility obeys the Néel law. The Mössbauer absorption spectra reflect wide distributions of the ⁵⁷Fe hyperfine interaction parameters, and disappearance of long range magnetic coupling of Fe atoms in the magnetically ordered x=0 to 0.22 composition range.     

On the induced cobalt moments in (GdxY1−x)Co3 compounds

We report the results of magnetic measurements on (Gd_xY_1?x)Co₃ compounds with x ? 0.2, in the temperature range (4.2–1300) K. The compounds are ferrimagnetically ordered, the cobalt magnetization being anti-parallel oriented to that of gadolinium. The mean cobalt moment is dependent on composition. In the paramagnetic range the reciprocal susceptibility obeys a non-linear variation. By using a two sublattices model, the mean values of the exchange interactions inside and between sublattices are determined. The analysis of the data shows that the changes of the cobalt moments are due to the variations of the exchange fields acting on these atoms. Finally, the magnetic behaviour of cobalt atoms in these compounds is discussed.     

A DFT study of the electronic and magnetic properties of Fe2MnSi1−xGex alloys

We performed density functional theory (DFT) calculations to study the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of Fe₂MnSi_1−xGe_x alloys (x=0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, and 1.00). The lattice constant is found to increase linearly as a function of Ge concentration with a decrease in the formation energy. The total magnetic moment is found to be 3 μ_B for all alloys with the most contribution from Mn local magnetic moments. Iron atoms, however, exhibit much smaller spin moments about 10% of the bulk value. It seems that due to the proximity of Fe, magnetic moments have been induced on the sp atoms, which couple antiferromagnetically with Fe and Mn spin moments. Although, the band gap remains almost constant (0.5 eV), the spin–flip gap decreases as a function of x.     

High temperature magnetic behaviour of (GdxY1−x)Fe2 compounds

The thermal variation of reciprocal susceptibility of (Gd_xY_1?x)Fe₂ compounds obeys a Néel type variation. Both the effective and saturation iron moments decrease with the increase of yttrium content. A correlation between the exchange fields acting on iron magnetization and the Fe ordered moment is evidenced. Finally, the magnetic behaviour of iron atoms in these compounds is discussed.     

Magnetic properties of heusler alloys Ni3−xMnxSn

Heusler alloys with composition corresponding to x = 1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 1.65, 1.8 and 1.9 have been prepared. The saturation magnetization and the paramagnetic moment show a maximum at x = 1.3. The manganese atoms are distributed over octahedral and tetrahedral sites with different magnetic moments (μ_ferro(oct.) = 4μ_B, μ_ferro(tetr.) = 0μ_B). Furthermore there is a certain degree of Mn/Sn disorder with Mn atoms on Sn-sites coupled antiferromagnetically to the Mn sublattice. Using a x_g versus 1/H plot, considerable temperature independent paramagnetism is found far below the Curie-temperature (80 K).     

Magnetic behaviour of Sm6Mn23−xFex compounds

Results of magnetic investigations on Sm₆Mn_23-xFe_x compounds performed over a wide temperature range are presented. It was found that replacing the Mn atoms in Sm₆Mn₂₃ and Fe atoms in Sm₆Fe₂₃ by Fe and Mn, respectively, causes a rapid reduction in both the Curie temperature and the magnetic moment. No magnetic order was found in the 4 < x < 8 range. The temperature dependence of the reciprocal susceptibility of the investigated compounds can be described using the Néel law.     

Magnetism of surface alloys of the type MxN1−x/Rh(1 1 1)

We present a density functional theory study on the magnetic properties of two-dimensional surface alloys of the type M_xN_1−x (M=Fe, Co and Ni; N=Pt, Au, Ag, Cd and Pb) on Rh(1 1 1) for x=0.0, 0.25, 0.33, 0.5, 0.67, 0.75 and 1.0, in two types of geometric arrangements—striped phases or linear-chain type, and non-striped phases or mixed checkerboard type. Many pairs among these are bulk-immiscible but show mixing on the surface. We find that the trend in the magnetic moment of surface alloys of N with a given M follows the number of valence electrons in N: the higher the number of valence electrons, the lower the magnetic moment. Overlayer atoms when put on hcp sites show higher moment compared to fcc sites. In general, for a given composition x, linear-chain type structures show a reduced magnetic moment compared to checkerboard type structures. We find that Pb, when alloyed with magnetic elements (Fe, Co and Ni), has a lowering effect on their magnetic moments.     

Electronic structures of mixed ionic-electronic conductors SrCoOx

Electronic structures of SrCoO_x with x=3, 2.875 and 2.75 were calculated by DFT technique in SLDA approximation. Two kinds of oxygen vacancy ordering with energies of 0.22 and 0.01 eV lower in comparison with random vacancy distribution were revealed. The transition between these ordered vacancy systems with the activation energy 0.34 eV can be a step in the ionic conductivity mechanism. The calculated ion charges, magnetic moments and electron density of states were used to analyze chemical bonding in the crystals. All calculated compounds have metal electronic conductivity.     

Low temperature resistivities of FexNi80-xP14B6 metallic glasses

The resistivities of six Fe_xNi_80-xP₁₄B₆ alloys have been measured between 1.5 and 50 K. It is found that the resistivity variations both below and above the resistivity minima depend on the transition metal composition. The room temperature coefficients of the resistivity indicate the existence of the magnetic contribution to the resistivity.     

Influence of hydrogen absorption on magnetic properties of Zr(Fe1−xVx)2 ternaries

Measurements of magnetization, susceptibility and Mössbauer effect were made on Zr(Fe_1?xV_x)₂ ternaries and their hydrides. Absorbed hydrogen leads to a large increase (20–30%) in volume without a change in the crystal structure. Ferromagnetism in the Fe-rich region is enhanced by hydrogen absorption, whereas hydrogenation leads to suppression of superconductivity in the V-rich range. The Fe moments in the Zr(Fe_1?xV_x)₂ hydrides are remarkably larger than those in the corresponding host compounds. The Fe moment in the β-ZrFe₂ hydride extrapolated reaches to 2.9μ_B, which exceeds the saturation value in bcc Fe. The hyperfine fields of ⁵⁷Fe in both Zr(Fe_0.8V_0.2)₂ and the hydride distribute widely, indicating that the Fe moments are very sensitive to the local environment arround the Fe atoms. Arguments are presented that it is possible to interprete the Fe moment increase by hydrogenation in terms of a decrease in occupancy of the 3d-band state due to electron transfers from Fe to hydrogen and/or vanadium.     

Magnetic properties of YFe12−xMox compounds and magnetocaloric effect of YFe9.5Mo2.5

The characterization and magnetic properties of YFe_12−xMo_x (x=2.0, 2.5 and 3.0) with the ThMn₁₂-type structure, and the magnetocaloric effect of YFe_9.5Mo_2.5 were investigated. A directional growth was observed in YFe₁₀Mo₂ alloy. A broad peak in the zero-field-cooling (ZFC) magnetization curve of the YFe_12−xMo_x compounds is ascribed to the existence of ferromagnetic clusters with different site moments and scattered orientations of the moments. The broad range of the peak is reduced with increasing Mo content. A weak peak is observed near 190 K in the ZFC curve of YFe₉Mo₃, which is associated with the 8i sites being mostly occupied by Mo atoms. YFe_9.5Mo_2.5 has a magnetic entropy change of −1.09 J/kg K for a field change of 5 T at 277 K.     

Temperature and composition dependence of vibrational modes in Sm1−xLaxAlO3

At room temperature and for x₀ ～ 0.43, the system Sm_1?xLa_xAlO₃ undergoes a first order phase transition in which an orthorhombic structure transforms into a rhomboedral structure as x increases. This phase transition was investigated by Raman scattering experiments on polycrystalline compounds in the range 0 ? x ? 1. The dependence of low frequency modes on x is reported and compared with their well known temperature dependence. Soft modes have been observed in the orthorhombic (D_2h¹⁶) and rhomboedral (D_3d⁶) phases. It was found that the first order phase transition is probably driven by a double degenerate mode whose two components in the low symmetry phase display a linear composition dependence of their squared frequencies. The source of anomalous behaviour of Raman bands near the phase transition is discussed.     

First-principles study of structural, electronic and magnetic properties in Cd1−xFexS diluted magnetic semiconductors

In this paper, we report theoretical investigations of structural, electronic and magnetic properties of ordered dilute ferromagnetic semiconductors Cd_1−xFe_xS with x=0.25, 0.5 and 0.75 in zinc blende (B3) phase using all-electron full-potential linear muffin tin orbital (FP-LMTO) calculations within the density functional theory and the generalized gradient approximation. The analysis of band structures, density of states, total energy, exchange interactions and magnetic moments reveals that both the alloys may exhibit a half-metallic ferromagnetism character. The value of calculated magnetic moment per Fe impurity atom is found to be 4 μ_B. Moreover, we found that p-d hybridization reduces the local magnetic moment of Fe from its free space charge value of 4 μ_B and produces small local magnetic moments on Cd and S sites.     

Preferential ordering of Mn and Fe Atoms in Y6(Fe1−xMnx)23

Neutron diffraction studies of the nomagnetic compositional range of the Y₆(Fe_1?xMn_x)₂₃ system reveal the presence of preferential ordering of Fe and Mn atoms on the four transition metal crystallographic sites. Throughout the entire compositional range of the ternary system, Mn atoms prefer to occupy the f₂ site and Fe atoms the f₁ site. Refinements of the data were carried out using the Rietveld profile method.     

Magnetic properties of Fe1−xCoxO

Measurements are reported for the magnetic susceptibility of solid solutions Fe_1-xCo_xO for compositions with x =0.10 to 0.95 and for the temperature range 4.2 to 600 K. It is found that the Curie-Weiss law is obeyed at high temperatures while the dependence of the susceptibility and transition temperature on composition appear to be in good agreement with the “virtual crystal” approximation.     

Mössbauer study of Fe0.92−xCoxP0.08 nanowire arrays

Arrays of Fe_0.92−xCo_xP_0.08 (0.22≤x≤0.78) ternary alloy nanowires were fabricated in anodic aluminium oxide templates by electrochemical deposition. The broadened peaks in transmission Mössbauer spectra and the halo in selected area electron diffraction patterns indicate that the structure of Fe_0.92−xCo_xP_0.08 nanowires is amorphous. However, the short-range order of Fe_0.92−xCo_xP_0.08 nanowires has a bcc structure with a [110]-preferred orientation that is parallel to the nanowires. The magnetic texture results in the magnetic moment direction of the Fe atoms being along the nanowires. The short-range order around the Fe atoms reaches a minimum at x=0.45. With increasing Co content, the average hyperfine field decreases, while the isomer shift and quadrupole splitting remain almost constant, which result from the variation of 3d and 4s electron volume density at the Fe sites.     

The suppression of structural phase transformation in LaVO3 and La1−xSrxVO3 thin films fabricated by pulsed laser deposition

Highly oriented (100) thin films of LaVO₃ and La_1−xSr_xVO₃ have been fabricated by pulsed laser deposition in a reducing atmosphere. The films show a transition from insulating to metallic behaviour in the composition region of x, 0.175<x<0.200. In the single crystals of the antiferromagnetic insulating phase, a first-order structural phase transition is observed few degrees below the magnetic transition, which manifests itself as a kink in the temperature dependence of resistivity. In the highly oriented thin films of LaVO₃ and La_1−xSr_xVO₃ fabricated on lattice matched substrates in this study, the structural phase transformation in the insulating phase has been suppressed. The electrical conduction is found to take place via hopping through localized states at low temperatures. The metallic compositions show a non-linear (T^1.5) behaviour in the temperature dependence of resistivity. V (2p) core level spectra of these films show a gradual change in the relative intensities of V³⁺ and V⁴⁺ ions as the value of x increases.