Tight binding prediction of the α-Gd2S3 magnetic structure

Spin-dependent extended Hückel tight binding (EHTB) calculations were carried out for the magnetic solid Gd₂S₃ by considering 20 different variations in the ordering of the 4f⁷ moments. The tight-binding calculations are used to interpolate the band structure of a nonmagnetic congener (Y₂S₃) and the 4f/5d,6s exchange interactions are introduced as perturbations via the introduction of spin-dependent H_dd and H_ss parameters. The calculations predict that Gd₂S₃ adopts an antiferromagnetic ordering of the 4f⁷ moments that is consistent with published neutron diffraction results. Our attempt to account for the calculated energies of the spin patterns using an Ising model was unsuccessful.