Abstract

Europium telluride crystallizes in the NaCl structure and is antiferromagnetic with a Néel temperature TN of 9.6 K. We have used the 35.5 keV Møssbauer transition in Te-125 to examine the nature of the spontaneous magnetic moment which has been observed in conducting samples below TN. At 80 K the Mössbauer resonance spectrum consisted of a single absorption line comparable in width with the spectrum of nonmagnetic cubic ZnTe, indicating the absence of a significant quadrupole splitting at this temperature. At 4.2 K the line-width increased by a factor of 1.5, which is equivalent to a single magnetic hyperfine field at the Te sites of about 73 kOe. The line showed gradual broadening with increasing external longitudinal magnetic field up to 70 kOe at 4.2 K. These observations are consistent with the magnetization measurements as well as with recent spin-echo NMR experiments showing resonances which may be attributed to Te-125. We conclude from the shape of the Mössbauer line that the broadening observed at 4.2 K is most likely due to a single magnetic hyperfine field of magnitude 73 kOe acting at the Te sites. An applied magnetic field Hsite, but near the canted to paramagnetic transition (H≈66 kOe at 4.2 K) the observed hyperfine field increases more rapidly with H, reaching a value of 112 kOe when H=70 kOe.

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Physics

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