X-ray and neutron scattering

Abstract:

We report crystal growth of several rare-earth stannates RE 2 Sn 2 O 7 (RE=Pr, Tb, Ho, Dy, Yb and Lu) using the flux technique. Different combinations of flux were tried, and a Na 2 B 4 O 7 -NaF (1.2:1) mixture was found to be suitable for crystal growth. X-ray diffraction and thermal characterisation data are presented, as well as some initial measurements of magnetic and thermodynamic properties of the crystals. Little effect was observed with changing oxygen content by Sc substitution for Sn.

Abstract:

The atomic and magnetic structures of CoO and NiO have been probed using reverse Monte Carlo refinements of neutron total scattering data. The results obtained show that the known magnetic structure for NiO can be recovered by the reverse Monte Carlo process starting from random spin configurations, but it is insensitive to the spin direction in the {111} ferromagnetic planes. Refinements of the magnetic structure of CoO starting from random spin configurations result in collinear or non-collinear magnetic structure, consistent with those reported by other techniques. Starting from an ordered collinear spin structure for CoO and NiO leads to different results than when starting from a random arrangement of spins, evidence for configurational bias that highlights the need to take care when selecting a starting model for reverse Monte Carlo refinements of magnetic structures.