Neutron Diffraction by Paramagnetic and Antiferromagnetic Substances

Abstract

Neutron scattering and diffraction studies on a series of paramagnetic and antiferromagnetic substances are reported in the present paper. The paramagnetic diffuse scattering predicted by Halpern and Johnson has been studied, resulting in the determination of the magnetic form factor for ${\mathrm{Mn}}^{++}$ ions. From the form factor, the radial distribution of the electrons in the $3d$-shell of ${\mathrm{Mn}}^{++}$ has been determined, and this is compared with a theoretical distribution of Dancoff. Antiferromagnetic substances are shown to produce strong, coherent scattering effects in the diffraction pattern. The antiferromagnetic reflections have been used to determine the magnetic structure of the material below the antiferromagnetic Curie temperature. For some substances the magnetic unit cell is found to be larger than the chemical unit cell. The temperature dependence of the antiferromagnetic intensities has been studied, and the directional effects which characterize neutron scattering by aligned atomic moments have been used to determine the moment alignment with respect to crystallographic axes. From studies with magnetic ions possessing both orbital and spin moments, it is found that the antiferromagnetic intensities contain partial orbital moment components along with the spin moment component. The degree of orbital moment contribution agrees satisfactorily with that predicted by models of lattice quenching.

Keywords

Affiliated Institutions

• Oak Ridge National Laboratory US

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