Modulated magnetic structure in $^{57}$Fe doped orthorhombic YbMnO$_3$: a Mössbauer study

Mathieu Duttine (1) , Alain Wattiaux (1) , Félix Balima (1) , Claudia Decorse (2) , Hicham Moutaabbid (3) , Dominic H. Ryan (4) , Pierre Bonville (5)

1 ICMCB - Institut de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Bordeaux
2 ICMMO - Institut de Chimie Moléculaire et des Matériaux d'Orsay
3 IMPMC - Institut de minéralogie, de physique des matériaux et de cosmochimie
4 Physics Department and Centre for the Physics of Materials
5 LNO - Laboratoire Nano-Magnétisme et Oxydes

In the orthorhombic manganites o-RMnO$_3$, where R is a heavy rare earth (R = Gd-Yb), the Mn$^{3+}$ sublattice is known to undergo two magnetic transitions. The low temperature phase has an antiferromagnetic structure (collinear or elliptical), which has been well characterized by neutron diffraction in most of these compounds. The intermediate phase, occurring in a narrow temperature range (a few K), is documented for R = Gd-Ho as a collinear modulated structure, incommensurate with the lattice spacings. We report here on a $^{57}$Fe M\"ossbauer study of 2% $^{57}$Fe doped o-YbMnO$_3$, where the spin only Fe$^{3+}$ ion plays the role of a magnetic probe. From the analysis of the shape of the magnetic hyperfine M\"ossbauer spectra, we show that the magnetic structure of the intermediate phase in o-YbMnO$_3$ (38.0 K < T < 41.5 K) is also modulated and incommensurate.

Domaines: Matériaux

Mathieu Duttine, Alain Wattiaux, Félix Balima, Claudia Decorse, Hicham Moutaabbid, et al.. Modulated magnetic structure in $^{57}$Fe doped orthorhombic YbMnO$_3$: a Mössbauer study. AIP Advances, 2019, 9 (3), pp.035008. ⟨10.1063/1.5077005⟩. ⟨hal-01866145⟩