Mössbauer Study of the Ferrimagnetic Spinel FeCr₂S₄

Abstract

The normal spinel Fe[Cr 2 ]S 4 has been studied using the Mössbauer effect. Spectra have been collected over the temperature range 2–500 °K. Results are presented for the quantity [Formula: see text], the hyperfine field, and the isomer shift. We find that the magnetically split spectra can be fitted using a zero value of the asymmetry parameter over the temperature range 7–170 °K. But for [Formula: see text] an asymmetry parameter is required to fit the spectrum. Experiments in applied fields at 7 and 81 °K show that the quadrupole interaction is not produced by a crystallographic distortion. Attention is drawn to features of the spectra which suggest the presence of relaxation effects in the compound. The isomer shift shows deviations from the Debye model behavior. A model, which allows explanations of the observations, is proposed.