Magnetic Structure ofMn4N

Abstract

The magnetic structure of ${\mathrm{Mn}}_4$N has been determined by neutron diffraction from powders. The cubic unit cell has Mn at the corner and face centers and N at the body center. Standard diffraction techniques led to four possible models and it was necessary to perform polarized neutron beam experiments to resolve this ambiguity. The structure is ferrimagnetic with a corner moment of $3.5{\mu }_B$ antiparallel to the three face center moments of ${0.7}_7{\mu }_B$.