Re-entrant magnetic behaviour in amorphous Fe-rich Fe_100−x Zr _x alloys

Abstract

We report results of⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer measurements on the magnetically concentrated re-entrant amorphous Fe₁₀₀−xZr _x alloys (8≤x≤12) which give convincing evidence for a microscopic origin of the low-temperature magnetization anomaly atT _f<T _c. This is shown by an anomalous increase in the magnetic hyperfine field and in the relative intensities of the (†m=0)-Mössbauer lines belowT _f upon cooling. No evidence was found for an antiferromagnetic phase. The shape of the hyperfine-field distribution atT=4.2 K in zero external field and in a field of 3 T is unchanged, indicating homogeneous behaviour of all Fe moments near saturation. Ferromagnetic order is not long-ranged, but determined by exchange-coupled magnetic clusters. The cluster moment nearT _c is found to decrease strongly with increasing Fe content and extrapolates to zero atx≈96.