Appearance potential study of Nd 2Fe 14B

Abstract

Soft X-ray appearance potential spectroscopy has been exploited to study the electronic structure of Nd 2Fe 14B alloy. The binding energies of the L 3 level of iron and the M 5 level of neodymium in the intermetallic exhibit positive and negative chemical shifts respectively relative to their elemental values. The full width at half maximum of the iron L 3 level peak also increases. The changes are interpreted in terms of the charge transfer from iron to neodymium and are in agreement with the theoretical calculations of the electronic structure of the Nd 2Fe 14B intermetallic.