Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Neutron scattering study of the itinerant-electron magnet YMn/sub 2/

Journal Article · · Phys. Rev. B: Condens. Matter; (United States)

Neutron scattering with polarized beam analysis has been used to study the magnetic properties of the antiferromagnet YMn/sub 2/ (T/sub N/approx. =100 K). Previous susceptibility, NMR relaxation, and preliminary neutron measurements indicate a transition from a local-moment magnet in the ordered phase to an itinerant-electron magnet above T/sub N/. We present a detailed analysis of magnetic-scattering data measured for temperatures ranging from T = 10 K to T = 600 K. The analysis includes energy integration of the paramagnetic response, simple model calculations of the measured powder average, and absolute calibration of the cross sections. The amplitude of the local magnetic moment per Mn atom is extracted and shown to drop by more than )similarreverse arrowto)30% at T/sub N/ and to slowly increase again with increasing temperature, and up to 6T/sub N/ strong antiferromagnetic correlations are found to persist. This behavior is consistent with recent theories for itinerant-electron magnetism

Research Organization:
Physics Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973-5000
OSTI ID:
5356697
Journal Information:
Phys. Rev. B: Condens. Matter; (United States), Journal Name: Phys. Rev. B: Condens. Matter; (United States) Vol. 37:7; ISSN PRBMD
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English