Temperature dependence of the magnetic hyperfine field at cerium impurity in Co

Abstract

Perturbed gamma-gamma angular correlation (PAC) technique was used to measure the magnetic hyperfine field (B _hf ) at Ce impurity in Co using ¹⁴⁰La→¹⁴⁰Ce probe. The radioactive ¹⁴⁰La produced by neutron irradiation of lanthanum metal with thermal neutrons was introduced in Co by arc melting in argon atmosphere. The present measurements cover the temperature range from 4.2–1300 K. Two pure magnetic interactions were observed at impurity sites, corresponding to a ferromagnetic ordering of Co moments in hcp and fcc phases. The temperature dependence of B _hf for both phases, however, shows a sharp deviation from an expected standard Brillouin-like behavior for the host magnetization. The results are discussed in terms of a simple molecular-field model where the localized moment at impurity ions as well as the conduction electron contributions to the hyperfine field are taken into account.