Superparamagnetic behaviour of reentrant weak-ferromagnetic phase in haematite crystal at low temperatures

Abstract

The present study investigates the magnetic properties of a natural haematite (α-Fe2O3) crystal at the temperature of liquid helium using magnetometry and 57Fe nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods. The magnetization curve shows that the net magnetization in the (111) plane vanishes at the Morin temperature (260K) but weakly reappears as the temperature decreases below 40 K. A comparison of the magnetization and NMR results indicates that the spin state, direction and canting angle, at a low temperature, is identical to that in a weak-ferromagnetic state above the Morin temperature. Its volume, however, occupies only 3% of the entire sample. The relaxation of magnetization with time, the difference of the zero-field-cooled and field-cooled magnetization, and the rise of the NMR echo intensity with increasing magnetic field exhibit the superparamagnetic behaviour of the reentrant weak ferromagnetic phase. The cluster size of the weak ferromagnetic phase is smaller than 102nm and the blocking temperature is higher than 40K. The fact that the results from the natural crystal and pure powder are similar implies that the reentrant weak-ferromagnetic phase at a low temperature is due to the intrinsic magnetic instability of haematite. © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.