NEUTRON DIFFRACTION STUDY OF THE MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF RARE-EARTH-IRON PEROVSKITES

Journal Article · Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1960 · Physical Review (U.S.) Superseded in part by Phys. Rev. A, Phys. Rev. B: Solid State, Phys. Rev. C, and Phys. Rev. D

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.118.58· OSTI ID:4157545

Koehler, W C; Wollan, E O; Wilkinson, M K

A neutron diffraction study was made of the magnetic properties of the rare-earth-iron perovskites, NdFeO/sub 3/, HoFeO/sub 3/, and ErFeO/sub 3/, at temperatures ranging from 955 to 1.25 deg K. The iron ions in each of these compounds undergo a transition to an antiferromagnetic configuration in which each moment has six oppositely directed moments at nearest neighbor distances. The Neel temperatures are 760, 700, and 620 deg K for the compounds of Nd, Ho, and Er, respectively. The moment directions in HoFeO/sub 3/ and ErFeO/sub 3/ are parallel and antiparallel to the orthorhombic STA100! direction at room temperature: at 43 deg K the moments are found to be in a (1-bar10) plane. In HoFeO/sub 3/ the iron-ion moments at 1.25 K are parallel to STA001!: in ErFeO/ sub 3/ at the same temperature they are parallel to STA110!. The magnitudes of the ordered iron moments at temperature saturation are 4.57, 4.60, and 4.62 Bohr magnetons in NdFeO/sub 3/, HoFeO/sub 3/, and ErFeO/sub 3/, respectively. In the liquid helium temperature range, magnetic ordering transitions of the rare-earth ions in HoFeO/sub 3/ (T/sub N = 6.5 deg K) and ErFeO/sub 3/ (T/sub N/ = 4.3 deg K) are observed. The Er/sup 3+/ ion moments form a nearly ideal antiferromagnetic configuration in which a chain of parallel moments is surrounded by four chains of oppositely directed moments at nearest neighbor distances. In this compound the Er/sup 3+/ ion moments are parallel and antiparallel to STA001! and at 1.25 deg K have a magnitude of 5.8 Bohr magnetons. In HoFeO/sub 3/ the ions are ordered in a distorted antiferrormagnetic configuration in which, at 1.25 deg K, each Ho/sup 3+/ moment with magnitude of 7.5 Bohr magnetons, makes an angle, in the (001) plane, of about 27 deg with the STA010! direction so as to produce a net ferromagnetic moment of 3.4 Bohr magnetons per HoFeO/sub 3/ molecule parallel to STA100!. (auth)

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., Tenn.
• NSA Number: NSA-14-015180
• OSTI ID: 4157545
• Journal Information: Physical Review (U.S.) Superseded in part by Phys. Rev. A, Phys. Rev. B: Solid State, Phys. Rev. C, and Phys. Rev. D, Vol. Vol: 118; Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-60
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

PHYSICS
ANTIFERROMAGNETISM
CONFIGURATION
DIFFRACTION
ERBIUM
ERBIUM COMPOUNDS
HOLMIUM
HOLMIUM COMPOUNDS
IONS
IRON
IRON COMPOUNDS
IRON OXIDES
LATTICES
LOW TEMPERATURE
MAGNETIC MATERIALS
MAGNETIC MOMENTS
MAGNETISM
MEASURED VALUES
MOLECULES
NEEL TEMPERATURE
NEODYMIUM COMPOUNDS
NEUTRONS
OXIDES
PEROVSKITE
TEMPERATURE