Abstract
Inelastic magnetic neutron scattering spectra were measured on polycrystalline β-Ce, γ-Ce and samples containing both phases. For fcc γ-Ce, a broad magnetic quasielastic response is observed with a crystal-field excitation at 16.7 meV. For dhcp β-Ce, a similar quasielastic response and a series of crystal-field excitations originating on both the cubic and the hexagonal site symmetries are expected. However, only the cubic site crystal-field excitation and broad quasielastic response are observed and, surprisingly, the magnetic spectrum of β-Ce is nearly identical with that of the γ phase. Such observations are entirely unexpected within a simple crystal-field model and probably arise from strong hybridization of the f states with the conduction band.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 675-687 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Philosophical Magazine B: Physics of Condensed Matter; Statistical Mechanics, Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Properties |
| Volume | 81 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 2001 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
ACK~OWLEDGEMENTS R.J.M. would like to thank S. Rosenkranz, D. Yocum and E. Goremychkin for help with data acquisition and analysis and S. Kern, J. L. Robertson, R. A. Robinson and many at the MST-10 group at Los Alamos National Laboratory for interesting scientific discussions. This work was supported (in part) by the US Department of Energy under contract W-7405-ENG-36 with the University of California and grant DE-FG03-96ER45572 with the California Institute of Technology. This work has benefited from the use of the Intense Pulsed Neutron Source at Argonne National Laboratory. This facility is funded by the US Department of Energy, Basic Energy Sciences-Materials Science, under contract W-3 1- 109-Eng-38.