Spin waves in Fe3−xMnxSi ordered alloys

Spin wave dispersion relations in Fe_3?xMn_xSi ordered alloys have been measured by neutron scattering for alloys with x = 0.04 and x = 0.18. The dispersion relations have been found to be quadratic in the magnon wavevector q? up to about half of the Brillouin zone along [111] direction. The measured values of the spin wave stiffness constant are 169±7 meV Å⁰² and 207±7 meV Å⁰² for samples with x = 0.18 and x = 0.04, respectively. The energy gap found from the rough data turned out to be almost totally due to the triple-axis spectrometer resolution properties. The nearest neighbour exchange integral for FeFe interaction, calculated from the above data, equals to 22.5±1.0 meV.