Neutron Diffraction of Magnetic Materials

Book excerpt: Detennination of the magnetic structure of magnetic materials is a fundamental problem that can be solved by magnetic neutron diffraction techniques. By magnetic structures we refer to the mutual alignment of the magnetic moments of the atoms in a crystal and their overall alignment relative to the crystallographic axes. Some indirect, tentative data on the magnetic structure of magnetic materials can be obtained from research on their magnetic, mechanical, thermal, and other properties. But only neutron diffraction is a unique direct method of detennining the magnetic structure of a crystal. The magnetic structure of more than one thousand crystals with magnetic order has been studied during 30 years of neutron diffraction research made on reactors in a large number of laboratories in the world. The results of this research work are extensively described in the handbook Magnetic Structures Determined by Neutron Diffraction [176]; in the present book, we will often refer to this handbook. The first extensive theoretical generalization of the principles of magnetic neutron diffraction and the results of research on magnetic structures appeared in the book by Yu. A. Izyumov and R. P. Ozerov Magnetic Neutron Diffraction [24, 134].