Title Cluster-Variational Treatment of Disordered Mixed Spin Ising Model

TL;DR

This paper applies a cluster-variational method to disordered mixed spin Ising alloys, revealing complex ferrimagnetic behaviors, transition temperatures, and susceptibility features that align with experimental observations.

Contribution

It introduces a cluster-variational approach to analyze disordered mixed spin Ising models, providing detailed insights into magnetic behaviors and transition phenomena.

Findings

Magnetization exhibits ferrimagnetic behavior depending on concentration and exchange interactions.

Existence of compensation temperature where total magnetization reverses.

Transition temperature is lower than mean-field predictions and shows complex dependence on parameters.

Abstract

A disordered alloy Ap B1-p where both A and B represent the magnetic atoms with respective spin SA =1/2 and SB =1 and whose magnetic interaction can be described through Ising Hamiltonian is treated using the cluster-variational method. In this method it is assumed that the system is built out of building block which is embedded in an effective field. Taking building block as 4-atom cluster the approximate free energy of the alloy is then obtained by treating the interactions between spins within the cluster of all possible configurations in exact manner and the rest of the interaction by an effective variational field . The magnetization M and transition temperature Tc are then calculated for different concentration and exchange parameters (JAA, JBB and JAB). The magnetization M exhibits different kinds of ferrimagnetic behaviour depending on concentration and relative strength of intra- and inter- sub-network exchange interactions. For antiferromagnetic JAB, the sub-network magnetization saturates and aligned antiferromagnetically at low temperature. The existence of compensation temperature Tcm, where total magnetization reverses its direction, depends sensitively on relative values of JAA/ JAB and JBB/ JAB and p. For B (A)-rich alloy with small JAB, the direction of net magnetization remains same upto Tc and a maximum of M appears at intermediate T < Tc when JBB>> JAA (JBB<< JAA).When magnitude of JAB > JAA, JBB, Tc exhibits a maximum with p. The transition temperature is much less than the mean-field value for all cases. The magnetic susceptibility for diverges and is Curie-Wiess like at T >>Tc. The meta-magnetic behaviour at high magnetic field has been found. Some of these results are in tune with experimental observation in amorphous rare-earth-transition metal alloys.