Mössbauer studies of spin reorientations in Er2-xGdxFe14B

The Er2 xGdxFe14B (x = 0.5, 1.0, 1.5) polycrystalline compounds have been investigated with 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy in the 80 330 K temperature range. The spin reorientation phenomena (changes from planar to axial spin arrangements) have been studied extensively by a narrow step temperature scanning in the neighbourhood of the spin reorientation temperature. From the analysis of the spectra it was deduced that in the region of transition each subspectrum was split into two Zeeman sextets, which were characterized by different hyperfine magnetic fields and quadrupole splittings. A consistent way of describing the Mössbauer spectra in the wide range of temperatures was proposed. The composition and temperature dependencies of hyperfine interaction parameters and subspectra contributions were derived from experimental spectra. The transition temperatures were determined for all the compounds studied.