A neutron polarization analysis study of Ce₂Fe₁₇ in its paramagnetic phase

Abstract

Spin-flip (paramagnetic) scattering and neutron depolarization studies were performed on Ce₂Fe₁₇ in its paramagnetic phase on the Dhruva neutron polarization analysis spectrometer. The absence of normalQ dependence of the scattered spin flip intensity shows that Ce₂Fe₁₇ is not a normal paramagnetic and there exist superparamagnetic clusters of sufficiently large dimensions (∼100Å). The observed neutron depolarization gives an indication of the dynamics of these Ce₂Fe₁₇ superparamagnetic clusters.