Crystal spacing predicts magnetic states in complex alloys better than electron count
In materials chemistry, identifying common parameters that can organize magnetic ground states across complex intermetallic compounds remains a central challenge. Researchers have long used chemically tunable parameters to control magnetic properties. One is valence-electron concentration, commonly discussed as the electron-per-atom (e/a) ratio. The e/a ratio has been widely used to classify…
A research team led by Assistant Professor Farid Labib of Tokyo University of Science has found that the lattice parameter, rather than the electron count, can better predict magnetic states in complex alloys such as Tsai-type icosahedral compounds. This discovery could provide a more reliable parameter for guiding the development of magnetic properties in quasicrystal-based intermetallics, which are expected to exhibit novel magnetic states and quantum phenomena.
The study, set to be published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, involved synthesizing a family of Au–(Al/Ga)-based 1/1 approximant crystals containing terbium, dysprosium, and holmium, and investigating their structural and magnetic properties. The researchers discovered a nearly monotonic inverse correlation between the lattice parameter and the electron-per-atom ratio, as well as characteristic whirling AFM and FM orders associated with strong uniaxial magnetic anisotropy.
Brief written by urgent.news from Phys.org's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
