Abstract
Two parallel neutron powder diffraction investigations were performed on different specimens of at the LLB (CEN, Saclay) and at NIST for the determination of its magnetic structure. It comprises, below , two coexisting sinusoidally modulated antiferromagnetic (AF) configurations, and , with the respective incommensurate propagation vectors, , together with its third harmonic , and . Contrary to other heavy rare-earth dideuterides, no commensurate AF configuration could be detected down to . On the other hand, similar to earlier observations on and , magnetic short-range order (SRO) shows up near in after the disappearance of certain lines. This SRO seems to correlate with the hexagonal -phase of the trideuteride and suggests an electronic phase separation with memory effects.
- Received 19 October 2004
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.71.054419
©2005 American Physical Society