Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 20, 2025
09:06
Visualizing Uniaxial-strain Manipulation of Antiferromagnetic Domains in Fe1+YTe Using a Spin-polarized Scanning Tunneling Microscope
Published on: March 24, 2019
8.1K
The Structure of Terbium in the Ferromagnetic State
Kun Lin1, Guodong Li1, Sergii Khmelevskyi2
1Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Materials Genome Engineering and Institute of Solid State Chemistry, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China.
Journal of the American Chemical Society
|August 2, 2023
Summary
Terbium metal exhibits a rare low-symmetry orthorhombic structure in its ferromagnetic state. This unusual crystal structure is stabilized by magneto-elastic forces, offering new insights into terbium
Area of Science:
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Materials Science
- Crystallography
Background:
- Metals usually form highly symmetric crystal structures due to metallic bonding.
- Low-symmetry structures are uncommon in metals, typically observed in specific actinide elements.
Purpose of the Study:
- To report the discovery of an unusual low-symmetry orthorhombic structure in ferromagnetic terbium.
- To investigate the stabilizing mechanisms behind this unique crystal structure.
Main Methods:
- Experimental observation of the terbium metal structure.
- First-principles many-body calculations.
- Analysis of crystal field splitting in the terbium 4f-shell.
Main Results:
- Ferromagnetic terbium adopts a low-symmetry orthorhombic structure (space group *Cmcm*).
- This structure is stabilized by magneto-elastic forces arising from quadrupolar moments.
- The Tb atom forms layered structures stacked along the *b*-axis.
Conclusions:
- The observed *Cmcm* structure in ferromagnetic terbium is driven by electronic and magnetic interactions.
- Findings provide a deeper understanding of terbium's electron structure, phonons, and magnetism.
- This study highlights the role of magneto-elastic coupling in stabilizing complex metallic structures.
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