Temperature-dependent evolution of micromagnetic structure of B20-type Fe1-xCoxGe studied by Mössbauer spectroscopy

Abstract

The non-collinear magnetic structures hosted in magnets with broken central inversion symmetry, some of which are topologically non-trivial, have unique physical properties and application prospects. This paper presents a detailed study of the temperature evolution of the micromagnetic structures of B20-type Fe1-xCoxGe (x = 0, 0.05, 0.10) polycrystalline samples using 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy. We take the relatively weak electric quadrupole interaction as a perturbation of the hyperfine magnetic interaction to obtain the distribution of the hyperfine magnetic field Hhf (φ) in the plane perpendicular to the magnetic propagation vector ks. It is found that the geometric features of Hhf (φ) are sensitive to the relative orientation of ks regarding the electric field gradient at the iron nucleus, as well as to the spin texture. The temperature dependence of Hhf (φ) provides a distinct signal of first-order phase transition when ks shifts from [100] to [111]. The doping of cobalt atoms leads to out-of-plane component and in-plane component aggregation of the neighboring iron magnetic moments. These results are instructive for understanding the dynamical behavior of spiral magnets with long-periods.