Anomalous magnetization cycle of UFe4Al8 single crystals: A Mössbauer effect study

João C. Waerenborgh, António P. Gonçalves, Grégoire Bonfait, Margarida Godinho, Manuel Almeida

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

25 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

An 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy study was performed on an UFe4Al8 single crystal, in an external magnetic field Bext, subtending an angle of 11° at the b axis. It shows that, even in low fields, the configuration of the Fe magnetic moments, μFe, is consistent with the canted antiferromagnetic order of μFe, established by single-crystal neutron diffraction in a field of 4.6 T. The canting of μFe is always observed towards the direction of the U magnetic moments μU, clearly showing that it is induced by μU rather than by Bext. At a certain value of Bext during the magnetic domain rotation, the direction of μFe is found to be temporarily frozen approximately along the direction of Bext. This confirms previous magnetization and magnetoresistance data, which show that for the same values of Bext, μU is blocked perpendicularly to Bext. Furthermore, the present study reveals that this blocking is a metastable state with a relaxation time of a few hours, at 4.2 K.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4074-4081
Number of pages8
JournalPhysical Review B - Condensed Matter And Materials Physics
Volume60
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1999

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