Neutron-Diffraction Study of γ-Fe at High Pressure

Face-centered-cubic iron (γ-Fe) coherently precipitated in a single crystal of Cu has been studied by neutron diffraction at high pressures up to 0.9 GPa and in the temperature range from about 5 to 110 K. It undergoes antiferromagnetic ordering at 67±2 K at ambient pressure. The ordering temperature TN monotonically decreases with increasing pressure following a relation TN(K)=67-12.8p - 11.1p2 - 6.17p3, where p is in units of GPa. The change of TN in γ-Fe is discussed in terms of the volume change caused by pressurization or by alloying

Small-angle neutron scattering of (Er₀.₈Ho₀.₂)Rh₄B₄

The (Er1-xHox)Rh4B4 pseudoternary alloy system has a minimum in the phase boundary between the superconducting and ferromagnetic phases near x=0.3. This minimum has been identified as due to the competing magnetic anisotropies of Er and Ho. It has also been suggested that there could be a Lifschitz point near the minimum. Using the 30-m SANS camera at the National Center for Small-Angle Scattering Research at ORNL, we have observed a peak in the SANS pattern for (Er 0.8Ho0.2)Rh4B4 at Q=0.065 Å-1. This peak appears for temperatures between Tc2, measured upon cooling, and Tm, and corresponds to a modulation of the magnetic moment with a wavelength of about 100 Å, demonstrating that the modulated moment phase exists away from the ErRh 4B4 end of the phase diagram. The wavelength of the modulation is the same as was previously observed in ErRh4B 4. The fact that the wavelength of the modulation remains finite near x=0.3 appears to rule out the possibility of Lifschitz behavior near this point

Magnetism and Superconductivity in (Er₀.₁₆Ho₀.₈₄)Rh₄B₄

The superconducting and ferromagnetic phase boundaries in the (Er1-xHox)Rh4B4 mixed ternary alloy system meet in a multicritical point at xcr ≈ 0.9. For xcr, the compounds first become superconducting as the temperature is lowered, and then lose superconductivity in a transition to ferromagnetism. The coexistence of superconductivity and ferromagnetism for alloys near the erbium-rich end of the phase diagram is well established. It has also been suggested that ferromagnetism and superconductivity coexist in alloys with x just below xcr. We have carried out neutron-diffraction, ac magnetic susceptibility, and heat-capacity measurements on a sample of (Er0.16Ho0.84)Rh4B4 to investigate the possibility of coexistence of ferromagnetism and superconductivity for x ≈ xcr. We find that there are minor discrepancies in the superconducting and magnetic transition temperatures reported for different samples of (Er0.16Ho0.84)Rh4B4, but that ferromagnetism and superconductivity do occur simultaneously over a narrow temperature range in this sample. We suggest that an inhomogeneous state occurs, consisting of separate ferromagnetic and superconducting regions, rather than microscopic coexistence

Time-dependent Magnetic Structures of the Superconducting Mixed Ternary System Ho(Rh₁₋ₓIrₓ)₄B₄

Magnetic structures have been determined by netron diffraction for several compositions in the superconducting mixed ternary system Ho(Rh1-xIrx)4B4. Two features previously reported to occur in the heat capacity for some compositions are shown to correspond to successive magnetic transitions. For x=0.30 and 0.45, neutron diffraction peaks for the lowest temperature structure develop over a timescale of many hours. The results are discussed in terms of magnetic frustration

High-Pressure Neutron-Scattering Studies of Graphite and Stage-Two Graphite-SbCl₅

The longitudinal-acoustic (LA) phonons propagating along the c axis in highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) were investigated as a function of pressure up to 20 kbar using inelastic-neutron-scattering techniques. The phonon frequencies varied as (P,q)=A(P)sin[c(P)q/2], where A(P) and c(P) indicate the pressure dependences of the zone-center LO frequency of B1g1 symmetry and of the c-axis lattice spacing, respectively. From the measurements, the mode Grüneisen parameter for the LA branch was estimated to be 1.5 x 10-2 kbar-1 (independent of q); the elastic constant C33 for HOPG was found to be 3.40 x 1011 dyn/cm2 at 1 bar with a pressure coefficient of (1/C33)(dC33/dP)=2.91 x 10-2 kbar-1. The measured c-axis spacings were 6.71 and 12.72 Å for HOPG and stage-2 SbCl5-intercalated graphite, respectively, at atmospheric pressure; the corresponding compressibilities (1/c)(dc/dP) were -2.24 x 10-3 kbar-1 (HOPG) and -2.28 x 10-3 kbar-1 (SbCl5). Elastic-neutron-scattering studies up to 20 kbar were undertaken to search for stage transformations, but no evidence of any phase transition was observed

Change of Magnetic Properties of Th₂Fe₁₇ Due to Interstitial Solution of C and N

The changes in magnetic and crystallographic properties in the series Th2Fe17Cx and Th2Fe 17Nx have been studied. The changes in the latter series were also studied by 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy. The ultimate enhancements of the saturation moments in these series are 13% and 24%, respectively. This is much larger than observed previously in the corresponding rare-earth compounds, although the Curie temperature enhancements are of comparable magnitude. In the Th-Fe-C system a novel compound of the BaCd 11 type was found, having a Curie temperature around 370 K

Neutron-diffraction Study of the Magnetic Ordering in Ni(CH₂CO₂NH₂)₂ 2H₂O

The magnetic structure of Ni(CH2CO2NH2)2 2 H2O has been determined by the analysis of neutron-diffraction data from powder and single-crystal samples. Ni(CH2CO2NH2)2 2 H2O orders at a Néel temperature of 0.88 K. The magnetic structure consists of antiferromagnetically coupled layers having a canted ferromagnetic ordering within layers, with a moment of (2.33 ± 0.14)μB per Ni2+ ion. The magnetic unit cell is composed of two crystallographic unit cells, and contains four nickel atoms. The moment direction is not simply related to either crystalline or molecular symmetry axes

Study of Structural and Magnetic Properties of Iron-Rich Mixed Rare-Earth NdDyFe (17-y-x)CoxSiy Compounds

A series of NdDyFe(17-y-x)CoxSiy solid solutions with = 2 and 3 and = 0.5 1.0 and 1.5 were prepared by induction melting stoichiometric amounts of high-purity elements. The postannealed samples consist of two phases belonging to the space groups R3 m and P63 mmc . The lattice parameters and the unit cell volumes were calculated from the refinements of the magnetic and structural unit cells using the FULLPROF version of the Rietveld program. For a fixed content of Co, the maximum Curie temperatures (305 C to 405 C) were observed in samples with = 1 and having two phases, a disordered rhombohedral (DR) structure and a disordered hexagonal (DH) structure. An increase in the Curie temperature of 70 C per atom of cobalt is observed in NdDyFe(17-y-x)CoxSiy with y = 1 and x\u3c 3, suggesting that with a suitable choice of rare earths this DR phase may be a promising candidate for high-energy product permanent magnets. The magnetization versus temperature (M versus T) plots of the solid solutions, which consist of two phases, exhibit only a single magnetic ordering transition temperature

X-ray Investigation of the Critical Exponent η in Argon

Measurements were made of the small-angle x-ray scattering intensity from argon near the critical point. After the scattering curves are corrected for all known effects except those resulting from irrelevant variables, a value of the critical exponent η=0.09±0.02 is obtained, while if a correction for the estimated effect of irrelevant variables is also made, η=0.03±0.03. The scattering data for argon therefore show that if irrelevant variables can be neglected, the critical exponent η for argon is in good agreement with the value obtained by Warkulwiz, Mozer, and Green from small-angle neutron scattering data for neon. These values of η, however, are clearly greater than those obtained by calculations using high-temperature expansions and renormalizationgroup techniques. On the other hand, if the effects of irrelevant variables are given by the estimate used in correcting the scattering data, the η value computed from the scattering curves agrees with the theoretical results