NMR and NQR study of the electronic and structural properties of Al-Cu-Fe and Al-Cu-Ru quasicrystals.

Abstract

[sup 27]Al and [sup 63,65]Cu NMR is reported for powdered stable Al-Cu-Fe and Al-Cu-Ru icosahedral quasicrystals and crystalline approximants, and for an Al-Pd-Mn single-grain quasicrystal. [sup 27]Al NQR spectra at 4.2 K were observed in Al-Cu-Fe and Al-Cu-Ru samples. From quadrupole-perturbed NMR spectra at different magnetic fields, and from zero-field NQR spectra, a wide distribution of local electric-field gradient (EFG) tensor components and principal-axis-system orientations was found at the Al site. A model EFG calculation based on a 1/1 Al-Cu-Fe approximant successfully explained the observed NQR spectra. The average local gradient is largely determined by the [ital p]-electron wave function at the Al site, while the width of the distribution is due to EFG lattice contribution. Comparison of [sup 63]Cu and [sup 27]Al NMR shows the EFG distribution at the two sites is similar, but the electronic contribution to the EFG is considerably smaller at the Cu site, in agreement with a more [ital s]-type wave function of the conduction electrons. Overall spread of EFG values is well reproduced by calculation based on the approximant. However, the experimental spectra indicate a much larger number of nonequivalent sites when compared with the simulated NQR spectra based on the 1/1 approximant. Themore » short-range, local chemical order is well represented by the approximant, but differences in coordination must be included at intermediate range in the quasicrystal. Measured [sup 27]Al Knight shift, magnetic susceptibility, and nuclear spin-lattice relaxation time as a function of temperature indicate reduced density of states at the Fermi level by a factor of 7 or 8 from the value in Al metal, consistent with the notion of a pseudogap for these quasicrystals. No differences in measured parameters were detected as a function of composition of the quasicrystalline alloys.« less