Eu valency and recoil-free fraction in EuCo2Si2-xGex

B. Perscheid*, I. Nowik, G. Wortmann, G. Schmiester, G. Kaindl, I. Felner

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

The valency of Eu in EuCo2Si2-xGex with x=0, 0.5, 1.0, and 2 was determined by151Eu-Mössbauer, Eu-LIII X-ray absorption as well as magnetization studies in the temperature range from 4.1 to 650 K and at external pressures up to 66 kbar. Eu in EuCo2Si2 is found to be predominantly trivalent, while in EuCo2Ge2 it is divalent. In EuCo2Si2-xGex (0≦x≦2), two separate narrow Mössbauer absorption lines are observed, corresponding to stable divalent and trivalent Eu ions. In EuCo2Si1.5Ge0.5, the relative spectral areas of the Eu2+ and Eu3+ Mössbauer lines are found to be strongly temperature and pressure dependent. A decrease in temperature or an application of pressure leads to small changes in the positions of the two absorption lines and to a pronounced increase in the relative spectral area of the Eu2+ component. On the other hand, X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) measurements at the LIII threshold of Eu reveal no change in the relative intensity of the Eu2+ and Eu3+ subspectra as a function of temperature. From these observations it is concluded that the recoil-free fractions of the Eu2+ and Eu3+ Mössbauer resonances in EuCo2Si1.5Ge0.5 depend in a substantially different way on temperature. With the Debye approximation, Debye temperatures of θD(Eu2+)=175 K and ΘD(Eu3+)=250 K are derived. These results clearly show that relative abundances of Eu2+ and Eu3+ ions may only be derived from Mössbauer linie intensities, if appropriate corrections for differences in recoil-free fraction are applied; this applies even to mixed-valent systems, where Eu ions with different valencies occupy crystallographically equivalent sites.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)511-517
Number of pages7
JournalEuropean Physical Journal B
Volume73
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1989

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