57Fe mossbauer studies of the (RE)Fe3intermetallic compounds

Abstract

See also ibid., vol.5, no.5, p.1037 (1975). The methods described in the previous paper are used to analyse the complicated ⁵⁷fe mossbauer spectra of the (re)fe₃ intermetallic compounds, where re=gd, tb, dy, ho, er and y. The resultant hyperfine parameters are then used, in conjunction with local dipolar field calculations, to infer directions of preferred magnetization. In particular, it is shown that at 77k, hofe₃ magnetizes along an a axis, tbfe₃ along a b axis and erfe₃ either along or close to a c axis. The case of dyfe₃ however is slightly more complex and it appears that this compound does not magnetize along a principal hexagonal axis. Some similarities between the mossbauer spectra of the (re)fe₂ and (re)fe₃ compounds are also noted.