NMR study of electric quadrupole interactions in GdCo 2

Abstract

Quadrupole oscillations have been observed with 59Co pulsed NMR in the intermetallic compound GdCo 2. From these oscillations the nuclear electric quadrupole interaction (EQI) has been studied as a function of temperature in the range 4−312 K. The value measured at 4 K, ν Q=672±3 kHz, is the largest so far reported for the cobalt EQI in the RCo 2 intermetallics. The EQI decreases with increasing temperature, reaching 432±10 kHz at 312 K. The amplitude of the oscillations tends to decrease with temperature, being also dependent on the easy direction of magnetization of the compound. Thus, above 200 K, as the direction of magnetization changes, large oscillations are again visible in the satellite line; the main line shows no oscillations in this range. The observed temperature dependence of the EQI is roughly linear, as found in othr transition metal systems.