Magnetic properties of R2PdSi3 (R = heavy rare earth) compounds

The R2PdSi3 (R = heavy rare earth) have been synthesized first in 1990 in the search for materials with unusual electronic properties. The availability of single crystals was the starting point for several investigations of the magneto-crystalline anisotropy, also in applied magnetic fields. The results of the observed properties in resistivity, magnetization and susceptibility lead to the summary that these compounds range from interesting to exotic and that their magnetic properties are low dimensional, spin-glass like and altogether “novel”. The focus of this thesis is the careful analysis of the magnetic properties and magnetic structures of single crystalline R2PdSi3 (R = Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm). The investigation of macroscopic properties uses magnetization and ac-susceptibility measurements. Resulting from these investigations are magnetic phase diagrams. Neutron and resonant X-ray diffraction measurements elucidate the magnetic structure for the investigated compounds. The phase diagram of Tb2PdSi3 is the starting point of a detailed neutron diffraction study in applied magnetic fields up to 6.5 T and in the temperature range from 0.05 K to 100 K on this compound. Key to the understanding of the R2PdSi3 is the strong coupling of crystallographic structure to the magnetic properties. Thus the established framework of exchange interaction and magneto-crystalline anisotropy allows a collective description instead of a “novel” behavior.Die R2PdSi3 (R = schwere seltene Erde) sind erstmals 1990, im Rahmen der Suche nach Materialien mit ungewöhnlichen elektronischen Eigenschaften, synthetisiert worden. Die Verfügbarkeit von Einkristallen war der Startpunkt für eine Vielzahl von Untersuchungen, auch in angelegten Magnetfeldern, der magneto-kristallinen Anisotropie. Das Ergebnis der untersuchten Eigenschaften Widerstand, Magnetisierung und Suszeptibilität führte zu dem Schluss, dass diese Verbindungen interessant bis exotisch und das ihre magnetischen Eigenschaften niedrig dimensional, spin-glas ähnlich und insgesamt “neuartig“ sind. Der Schwerpunkt dieser Dissertation ist die genaue Analyse der magnetischen Eigenschaften und Magnetischen Strukturen von einkristallinen R2PdSi3 (R = Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm). Magnetisierungs- und Suszeptibilitäts-Messungen werden zur Untersuchung der makroskopischen Eigenschaften benutzt. Resultat dieser Untersuchungen sind magnetische Phasendiagramme. Neutronen und resonante Röntgendiffraktrometrie klären die magnetische Struktur der untersuchten Verbindungen auf. Das Phasendiagramm von Tb2PdSi3 ist der Startpunkt einer detaillierten Neutronendiffraktionsuntersuchung dieser Verbindung in Magnetfeldern bis 6.5 T und im Temperaturbereich von 0.05 K und 100 K. Der Schlüssel zum Verständnis der R2PdSi3 ist die starke Kopplung der kristallografischen Struktur und der magnetischen Eigenschaften. Dadurch erlaubt das etablierte System aus Austauschwechselwirkung und magneto-kristalliner Anisotropie eine gemeinsame Beschreibung anstatt „neuartigem“ Verhalten

Mechanical Activation and Cation Site Disorder in Mgal2o4

The synthesis and crystallographic site occupancy were investigated for MgAl2O4 with and without mechanical activation of the precursor powders. Heating to 1200 °C or higher resulted in the formation of a single spinel phase regardless of whether the powders were mechanically activated or not. Neutron diffraction analysis was used to determine cation site occupancy and revealed that mechanical activation resulted in a lower degree of cation site inversion compared to the nonactivated materials, which indicated that the powders were closer to thermodynamic equilibrium. This is the first study to characterize the effects of mechanical activation on crystallographic site occupancy in magnesium aluminate spinel using neutron diffraction

Transverse dynamics of water across the melting point: A parallel neutron and x-ray inelastic scattering study

Joint inelastic neutron and x-ray scattering measurements have been performed on heavy water across the melting point. The spectra bear clear evidence of low- and high-frequency inelastic shoulders related to transverse and longitudinal modes, respectively. Upon increasing the momentum transfer, the spectral shape evolves from a viscoelastic regime, where the low-frequency mode is clearly over-damped, toward an elastic one where its propagation becomes instead allowed. The crossover between the two regimes occurs whenever both the characteristic frequency and the linewidth of the low-frequency mode match the inverse of the structural relaxation time. Furthermore, we observe that the frequency of the transverse mode undergoes a discontinuity across the melting, whose extent reduces upon increasing the exchanged momentum

Mechanical Activation and Cation Site Disorder in MgAl2O4

The synthesis and crystallographic site occupancy were investigated for MgAl2O4 with and without mechanical activation of the precursor powders. Heating to 1200 °C or higher resulted in the formation of a single spinel phase regardless of whether the powders were mechanically activated or not. Neutron diffraction analysis was used to determine cation site occupancy and revealed that mechanical activation resulted in a lower degree of cation site inversion compared to the nonactivated materials, which indicated that the powders were closer to thermodynamic equilibrium. This is the first study to characterize the effects of mechanical activation on crystallographic site occupancy in magnesium aluminate spinel using neutron diffraction. © 2022 by the authors

Spin-reorientation transitions in the Cairo pentagonal magnet Bi4 Fe5 O13 F

© 2017 American Physical Society. We show that interlayer spins play a dual role in the Cairo pentagonal magnet Bi4Fe5O13F, on one hand mediating the three-dimensional magnetic order, and on the other driving spin-reorientation transitions both within and between the planes. The corresponding sequence of magnetic orders unraveled by neutron diffraction and Mössbauer spectroscopy features two orthogonal magnetic structures described by opposite local vector chiralities, and an intermediate, partly disordered phase with nearly collinear spins. A similar collinear phase has been predicted theoretically to be stabilized by quantum fluctuations, but Bi4Fe5O13F is very far from the relevant parameter regime. While the observed in-plane reorientation cannot be explained by any standard frustration mechanism, our ab initio band-structure calculations reveal strong single-ion anisotropy of the interlayer Fe3+ spins that turns out to be instrumental in controlling the local vector chirality and the associated interlayer order

Singlet state formation and its impact on magnetic structure in tetramer system SeCuO3_3

We present an experimental investigation of the magnetic structure in a tetramer system SeCuO$_3$ using neutron diffraction and nuclear resonance techniques. We establish a non-collinear, commensurate antiferromagnetic ordering with a propagation vector $\textbf{k} = \left(0,0,1 \right)$. The order parameter follows a critical behavior near $T_N = 8$ K, with a critical exponent $\beta = 0.32$ in agreement with a 3D universality class. Evidence is presented that a singlet state starts to form on tetramers at temperatures as high as 200 K, and its signature is preserved within the ordered state through a strong renormalization of the ordered magnetic moment on two non-equivalent copper sites, $m_{Cu1} \approx 0.4 \mu_B$ and $m_{Cu2} \approx 0.7 \mu_B$ at 1.5 K