The magnetic Compton profile of ferrimagnetic HoFe₂

Abstract

The magnetic Compton profile of polycrystalline ferrimagnetic HoFe2 has been measured at room temperature with 48 keV circularly polarized synchrotron radiation at the KEK Accumulation Ring Compton station. Although the compound has a net spin magnetic moment of less than 0.5 mu B per formula unit it has been possible to analyze the lineshape using free-atom and free-electron momentum density distributions to yield the spin moments on the Ho and Fe atomic sites and the delocalized moment. The question of deducing orbital moments from a combination of these data and bulk magnetization results is addressed.