Abstract
In the context of a systematic study of oxide materials with the muon spin spectroscopy ($\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{SR}$) technique, we report here on an investigation of paramagnetic ${\mathrm{Nd}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$. The question was whether the magnetism of ${\mathrm{Nd}}^{3+}$ has an influence on the observed signals. In ${\mathrm{Nd}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$, as in the other oxides, a weakly paramagnetic component is observed besides the pure diamagnetic fraction. The paramagnetic part is assigned to a transient state formed between the initial atomic and the final bound muonium configuration. In addition, a fast relaxing signal ($\ensuremath{\lambda}\ensuremath{\sim}7\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$) with 10% to 20% fraction is seen in longitudinal field. Contrary to this general behavior of the oxide materials, in the present magnetic compound, a resonancelike structure is seen in the temperature range around 40 K. We assign it tentatively to a dynamical process related to the population of the first excited Kramers doublet of the ${\mathrm{Nd}}^{3+}$ ion at 2.6 meV.
Published Version
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