Magnetic structure of EuFe2As2 determined by single crystal neutron diffraction

TL;DR

This study uses single crystal neutron diffraction to elucidate the magnetic structure of EuFe2As2, revealing the ordering of Fe and Eu spins and their weak coupling, which is crucial for understanding its magnetic and structural properties.

Contribution

The paper provides detailed magnetic structure determination of EuFe2As2 and insights into the coupling between Fe and Eu magnetic sublattices using neutron diffraction.

Findings

Fe and Eu spins order at different temperatures

Strong coupling between structural and magnetic transitions

Weak coupling between Fe and Eu magnetic sublattices

Abstract

Among various parent compounds of iron pnictide superconductors, EuFe2As2 stands out due to the presence of both spin density wave of Fe and antiferromagnetic ordering (AFM) of the localized Eu2+ moment. Single crystal neutron diffraction studies have been carried out to determine the magnetic structure of this compound and to investigate the coupling of two magnetic sublattices. Long range AFM ordering of Fe and Eu spins was observed below 190 K and 19 K, respectively. The ordering of Fe2+ moments is associated with the wave vector k = (1,0,1) and it takes place at the same temperature as the tetragonal to orthorhombic structural phase transition, which indicates the strong coupling between structural and magnetic components. The ordering of Eu moment is associated with the wave vector k = (0,0,1). While both Fe and Eu spins are aligned along the long a axis as experimentally determined, our studies suggest a weak coupling between the Fe and Eu magnetism.