Spin-reorientation studies in the Fe1-xMnxSn system (Mossbauer study)

Abstract

57Fe Mossbauer investigations on a series of compounds described by the general formula (Fe1-xMnx)Sn, for 0<or=x<or=0.3, have been carried out over a temperature range of 77K to about 400K. It is found that, like FeSn, the Mn-substituted compounds retain the hexagonal B-35 structure as well as the antiferromagnetic ordering. However, the substituted compounds exhibit the phenomenon of spin reorientation from the basal plane towards the c axis, as a function of both composition and temperature. There is a distinct discontinuity in the average hyperfine-field values at the spin-reorientation temperature Tsr and the range (of Tsr) broadens as the Mn content increases. At low temperatures, for compositions where x=0.1 and 0.2, the direction of the spins is found to be midway between (100) and (210), which is similar to FeSn. As a result of the Mn substitution, no change is found in the saturated hyperfine-field values associated with the three nuclear Zeeman patterns, ascribed to the crystallographically equivalent 3(f) Fe sites.