Noncollinear spin structure in Fe3+xCo3−xTi2 (x = 0, 2, 3) from neutron diffraction

Authors

Haohan Wang, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Balamurugan Balamurugan, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Rabindra Pahari, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Ralph Skomski, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Yaohua Liu, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Ashfia Huq, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
D. J. Sellmyer, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Xiaoshan Xu, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

2019

Document Type

Article

Citation

PHYSICAL REVIEW MATERIALS 3, 064403 (2019)

Comments

Used by permission.

Abstract

Neutron powder diffraction has been used to investigate the spin structure of the hard-magnetic alloy Fe_3+xCo_3−xTi₂ (x = 0, 2, 3). The materials are produced by rapid quenching from the melt, they possess a hexagonal crystal structure, and they are nanocrystalline with crystallite sizes D of the order of 40 nm. Projections of the magnetic moment onto both the crystalline c axis and the basal plane were observed. The corresponding misalignment angle exhibits a nonlinear decrease with x, which we explain as a micromagnetic effect caused by Fe-Co site disorder. The underlying physics is a special kind of random-anisotropy magnetism that leads to the prediction of 1/D^1/4 power-law dependence of the misalignment angle on the crystallite size.