Neutron Diffraction Study of Fe_1.76 Ge Single Crystals

Abstract

A polarized neutron diffractometer has been used to determine the magnetic structure of Fe 1.76 Ge single crystal at room temperature. Fe 1.76 Ge has a B8 2 type of crystal structure, where layers composed of iron atoms and those composed of both iron and germanium atoms alternate along the c -axis. The magnetic moment of the iron atom on the former layer is found to be 1.56±0.2 µ B . On the latter layer which forms a honey-comb layer, the moment of the iron atom is found to be 0.53±0.2 µ B . Furthermore, the result of the experiment on the magnetic torque curve shows that the c -axis is a hard direction of magnetization.