Studies of the magnetic behavior of the spinel system GaxCoCrFe1-xO4 by neutron diffraction

Temperature dependent neutron diffraction studies have been done on the spinel series GaxCoCrFe1-xO4 with x = 0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0. Magnetic properties of the system have been determined from the analysis of neutron data recorded at a number of temperatures. The subtattice and net magnetizations and the paramagnetic transition temperatures of all the members of the series have been found out. A decreasing ferrimagnetic order with increasing x is apparent from the progressive loss of magnetization and transition temperature. Evidence of magnetic spin clusters has been revealed from the reduced sublattice moments and diffuse signal appearing below the (1 1 1) Bragg peak at low temperature neutron patterns. A weak magnetic ordering has also been revealed from the magnetization measurements on the sample x = 1.0. The system has been found to exhibit a complex magnetic phenomenon in which short-range magnetic spin clusters are superimposed on the ferrimagnetic long-range order together with a little extension of the short-range ordering of spin clusters at very low temperatures giving rise to a weak (2 0 0) superlattice reflection. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.