Inelastic neutron scattering study of crystal field excitations of Nd3+ in NdFeAsO.
- Resource Type
- Article
- Authors
- Y. Xiao; Zbiri, M.; Downie, R. A.; Bos, J.-W. G.; Brückel, Th.; Chatterji, T.
- Source
- Physical Review B: Condensed Matter & Materials Physics. Dec2013, Vol. 88 Issue 21, p214419-1-214419-6. 6p.
- Subject
- *NEUTRON scattering
*CRYSTAL structure
*ELECTRIC fields
*CONDENSED matter
*CONDENSED matter physics
- Language
- ISSN
- 1098-0121
Inelastic neutron scattering experiments were performed to investigate the crystalline electric field (CEF) excitations of Nd3+ ( = 9/2) in the iron pnictide NdFeAsO. The crystal field level structures for both the high-temperature paramagnetic phase and the low-temperature antiferromagnetic phase of NdFeAsO are constructed. The variation of CEF excitations of Nd3+ reflects not only the change of local symmetry but also the change of magnetic ordered state of the Fe sublattice. By analyzing the crystal field interaction with a crystal field Hamiltonian, the crystal field parameters are obtained. It was found that the sign of the fourth- and sixth-order crystal field parameters change upon the magnetic phase transition at ~140 K, which may be due to the variation of exchange interactions between the 4 and conduction electrons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]