The magnetic structure of EuCu₂Sb₂

Journal Article · Wed May 06 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/27/20/206002· OSTI ID:1227300

Ryan, D. H. ^[1]; Cadogan, J. M. ^[2]; Anand, V. K. ^[3]; Johnston, D. C. ^[3]; Flacau, R. ^[4]

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1. McGill Univ., Montreal, QC (Canada)
2. UNSW Canberra at the Australian Defense Force Academy, Canberra (Australia)
3. Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)
4. Chalk River Lab., Chalk River, ON (Canada)

Antiferromagnetic ordering of EuCu₂Sb₂ which forms in the tetragonal CaBe₂Ge₂-type structure (space group P4/nmm #129) has been studied using neutron powder diffraction and ¹⁵¹Eu Mössbauer spectroscopy. The room temperature ¹⁵¹Eu isomer shift of –12.8(1) mm/s shows the Eu to be divalent, while the ¹⁵¹Eu hyperfine magnetic field (B_hf) reaches 28.7(2) T at 2.1 K, indicating a full Eu²⁺ magnetic moment. B_hf(T) follows a smooth $$S=\frac{7}{2}$$ Brillouin function and yields an ordering temperature of 5.1(1) K. Refinement of the neutron diffraction data reveals a collinear A-type antiferromagnetic arrangement with the Eu moments perpendicular to the tetragonal c-axis. As a result, the refined Eu magnetic moment at 0.4 K is 7.08(15) μ_B which is the full free-ion moment expected for the Eu²⁺ ion with $$S=\frac{7}{2}$$ and a spectroscopic splitting factor of g = 2.

• Research Organization: Ames Laboratory (AMES), Ames, IA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-07CH11358
• OSTI ID: 1227300
• Report Number(s): IS-J-8667
• Journal Information: Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter, Vol. 27, Issue 20; ISSN 0953-8984
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
Mossbauer spectroscopy
neutron diffraction
magnetic structure
rare earth pnictide compounds