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Methods of Ex Situ and In Situ Investigations of Structural Transformations: The Case of Crystallization of Metallic Glasses
Published on: June 7, 2018
Lattice size induced moment formation on isolated Fe atoms in nanocrystalline Nb
S N Mishra1, S K Mohanta, S M Davane
1Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Homi Bhabha Road, Mumbai-400005, India.
Abstract:
Measurements of the local susceptibility and 3d spin relaxation rate for single Fe impurities embedded in a nanocrystalline Nb host indicates the emergence of a local moment on Fe at and below a critical size of 11 nm. Our ab initio electronic structure calculations show that the moment formation occurs due to Stoner enhancement arising from a size dependent lattice expansion and a consequent shift in the Fermi level. We also show that a size-induced positive host spin polarization of the Nb-4d band electrons strongly influences the fluctuation rate of the Fe moment.
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