P. Schobingerpapamantellos et al., A NEUTRON-DIFFRACTION STUDY OF THE MAGNETIC-ORDERING OF TMMN6GE6, Journal of alloys and compounds, 226(1-2), 1995, pp. 113-120
The compound TmMn6Ge6 of HfFe6Ge6-type of structure (P6/mmm) orders an
tiferromagnetically below T-N=482 K and undergoes two magnetic transit
ions at lower temperatures. Neutron powder diffraction has shown that
the high temperature region, T>85 K, consists exclusively of the colli
near antiferromagnetic ordering, q(2) = (0,0,1/2), of the Mn sublattic
e along the c axis. In the low temperature region, T<T-t=35 K, both th
e Mn and the Tm sublattices participate in the magnetic ordering corre
sponding to a tilted spiral structure with the wave vector q(l) = (0,0
,q(z)) and q(z) = 1/4. The intersublattice moment angle Mn-Tm-Mn, +/-
(pi-phi[Mn]) = +/- 142 degrees, and the angle of the spiral axis with
the c axis theta(s)= 69 degrees are slightly temperature dependent. Fo
r T>T-t= 35 K the tilted spiral becomes destabilised and the two subla
ttices become weakly coupled. In the intermediate region 35-85 K the T
m spiral magnetic moment drops progressively to zero; the ordering of
the Mn sublattice corresponds to a distorted skewed spiral with fluctu
ating Mn moment values and directions.