Peculiar magnetism of transition metal cluster compounds

The researchers discuss a class of solids which have in their structure fairly separated tetrahedral clusters of transition metals: vanadium and molybdenum. With decreasing temperature these compounds undergo a structural transition from cubic to rhombohedral phase at a temperature Τ^sub s^, followe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Europhysics letters 2013-03, Vol.101 (6), p.P1-P1
Main Authors: Malik, Vikas, Yadav, C S, Rastogi, Ashok, Kumar, Deepak
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Clusters
Degrees of freedom
Distortion
Magnetic fields
Magnetic permeability
Mathematical analysis
Molybdenum
Transition metals
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Summary:The researchers discuss a class of solids which have in their structure fairly separated tetrahedral clusters of transition metals: vanadium and molybdenum. With decreasing temperature these compounds undergo a structural transition from cubic to rhombohedral phase at a temperature Τ^sub s^, followed by a transition to a ferromagnetic phase at a lower temperature Τ^sub c^. Magnetic measurements indicate the presence of moments of spin half per cluster. Between Τ^sub c^ and Τ^sub s^ susceptibility shows large departures from Curie-Weiss behavior and specific heat has an unusually large non-phononic contribution. They present a model in which each cluster acts as a unit associated with a magnetic moment of spin half and a structural degree of freedom related to distortions of the tetrahedron. Their model accounts for all the observed features including effects due to external pressure and magnetic field.
ISSN:0295-5075
1286-4854