An X-ray diffraction, magnetic susceptibility and spectroscopic study of Yb 2− xNi xO 3

Abstract

A series of Yb 2− x Ni x O 3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.6) polycrystalline samples was prepared by sol–gel process. X-ray diffraction data were collected and the crystal structures were refined by the Rietveld method. A preferential substitution of Ni 3+ ions over two cationic sites, 8b and 24d in the space group Ia3 was found. Magnetic susceptibility measurements of all samples were done in a temperature range 2–50 K. In this region only the lowest Kramer's doublet is populated, and for that level the effective magnetic quantum number is deduced. The curie–Weiss paramagnetic temperature θ( x) obtained for the low temperature region depend linearly on the concentration x. above 30 K the inverse magnetic susceptibility deviates from linearity due to the crystal field influence.