Abstract
A RECENT communication by Selma Greenwald and J. S. Smart1 has directed attention to the significance of the structural deformations observed by us in monoxides of the transition elements2 in relation to their antiferromagnetic behaviour. It is particularly noteworthy that the temperatures at which departure from the high-symmetry face-centred cubic structure cell is first manifest are almost exactly the antiferromagnetic Curie temperatures. It would appear that deformations of the simpler arrangements existing above these Curie temperatures are a natural consequence of the setting of adjacent magnetic atoms in anti-parallel spin orientations below these temperatures. Neutron diffraction work on manganous oxide by Shull3 has shown that the magnetic cell has a lattice constant double that of the elementary structure cell; but it remains for X-rays to demonstrate the change in shape consequent upon the preferential arrangement of the metal atoms.
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References
Greenwald, S., and Smart, J. S., Nature, 166, 523 (1950).
Tombs, N. C., and Rooksby, H. P., Nature, 165, 442 (1950).
Shull, C. G. (private communication, April 1950).
Bizette, H., and Tsai, B., Bull. Soc. chim. France, D 531 (1949).
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ROOKSBY, H., TOMBS, N. Changes of Crystal Structure in Antiferromagnetic Compounds. Nature 167, 364 (1951). https://doi.org/10.1038/167364a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/167364a0
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