M.Sc. (Experimental Physics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Ph.D. (Physics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract.

M.Sc. (Physics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Sc. / Please refer to full text to view abstract.

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D.Phil. / Spin-density-wave (SDW) effects were studied in diluted Cr-Si and Cr-Ga alloy single cristals. Ga and Si impurities in Cr are respectively from groups 3 and 4 non-magnetic non-transitional elements from the periodic table. Both influence the magnetic behaviour of Cr in a special way. The alloying of Cr with Si and Ga impurities influences the magnetic phase transition temparatures, namely the Néel temparature (Tn) and the transition temparature (T1c) for the incommensurate to commensurate (C) SDW transition, in a very complex way. The magnetic phase diagrams of both Cr-Si and Cr-Ga show a triple phase where the paramegnetic (P), CSDW and ISDW phases co-exist.

Ph.D. / Spin—density—wave (SDW) effects are investigated in four dilute Cr—Ir alloy single crystals. The Ir concentrations in these crystals were chosen to cover all four magnetic phases existing on the magnetic phase diagram of the Cr—Ir system. Thermal expansion, electrical resistivity, elastic constants and ultrasonic attenuation are studied as functions of temperature and alloy concentration. The elastic constants are also studied as a function of applied hydrostatic pressure. The SDW effects in the Cr—Ir system are compared with those in other Cr alloys. The full temperature—concentration and temperature—pressure magnetic phase diagrams of the Cr—Ir system are determined. Existing theories are used to discuss the observations. The following major observations are made: Magnetoelastic interactions in Cr—Ir alloys are very large, resulting in well defined magnetic anomalies in the elastic constants and thermal expansion at all magnetic phase transition temperatures. Elastic constant measurements as a function of temperature appear to be a very sensitive tool to determine the magnetic phase transition temperatures of the Cr—Ir alloy system. Below TN of Cr—Ir alloys, where TN is the transition temperature from the incommensurate transverse spin—density-wave (TISDW) magnetic phase to the paramagnetic phase, elastic constant and thermal expansion measurements show the existence of hysteresis effects, which are probably due to a redistribution of antiferromagnetic domains. These hysteresis effects are the first evidence of such effects in Cr alloys. Spin fluctuation effects are shown to exist to temperatures well above the Neel temperatures of the Cr—Ir alloys. Analyses of the data for electrical resistivity measurements of Cr—Ir alloys show that the fraction of the electron and hole Fermi surface sheets that nests is roughly the same in the ISDW and CSDW (commensurate spin—density—wave) phases, making the resistivity anomaly near the ISDW—CSDW transition temperature very small or non—existing. Measurements of elastic constants as a function of applied pressure at different constant temperatures are shown to be a very powerful tool for an investigation of the interaction of the SDW with the acoustic phonons in dilute Cr—Ir alloys. It is found that the SDW in Cr—Ir alloys couples mainly with the longitudinal—mode acoustic phonons. Coupling to the shear—mode phonons is relatively small. Empirical correspondence is found between the temperature—concentration and temperature— pressure magnetic phase diagrams of the dilute Cr—Ir alloy system by using a linear scaling between pressure and concentration. Existing thermodynamic models fit the experimental results for the elastic constants and magnetovolume of the Cr—Ir alloys well. The main features of the temperature—concentration and temperature—pressure magnetic phase diagrams of the Cr—Ir alloy system are resonably well predicted by existing microscopic theories.

M.Sc. / Spin-density-wave (SDW) effects are investigated in a Cr + 1.9 at.% Fe alloy single crystal, where the Fe concentration lies just below the triple point found in the temperatureconcentration magnetic phase diagram of the Cr-Fe alloy system. The crystal is expected to undergo a commensurate (C) SDW to an incommensurate (I) SDW phase transition at a temperature Tc, and an ISDW-P (paramagnetic) phase transition at the Neel temperature, TN. The magnetoelastic properties and the anharmonic behaviour of this crystal were studied with the aid of velocity of sound measurements as function of temperature and pressure. Electrical transport measurements were carried out using the standard fourprobe method. In order to determine the various phases present in the crystal a preliminary neutron-diffraction study was also done. Fe belongs to the group-8 magnetic transition metals, possessing localized magnetic moments. The SDW effects in the Cr + 1.9 at.% Fe crystal are therefore compared with that of Cr-Ru and Cr-Ir alloys, as Ru and Ir also belong to the group-8 transition metals, however these impurities are nonmagnetic. The following observations were made: The longitudinal mode elastic constants and the bulk modulus show a prominent change in the slope at Tc, and a sharp, deep minimum at TN. For the c' shear propagation mode peaks were seen at Tcl as well as TN and the c4 4 propagation mode showed no anomalies at either phase transition temperatures. The longitudinal ultrasonic wave velocities for the cL propagation mode were measured as a function of temperature at different constant pressures. TN obtained from these measurements varies linearly with increasing pressure. High-pressure ultrasonic wave velocity measurements were taken at various constant temperatures in the range of 230 K to 350 K for the C L, c44 and c' propagation modes of the Cr + 1.9 at.% Fe alloy single crystal. This was used to determine the pressure derivatives of the second order adiabatic elastic constants (acu /ap). The pressure derivatives of the second order adiabatic elastic constant are shown to be a very powerful tool for investigating the interaction of the SDW with the acoustic phonons in the Cr-Fe crystal. II The long-wavelength acoustic-mode Gitmeisen parameters, calculated from (acu/ap), showed that the SDW in the Cr + 1.9 at.% Fe alloy single crystal couples mainly with the longitudinal acoustic phonons. Coupling to the shear modes is relatively small. The mean acoustic-mode GrOneisen parameter shows a small maximum between Tc, and TN. It increases on heating through TN, reaching a large maximum value above TN, and then decreases with further increase in the temperature. The electrical resistivity was measured_in the temperature region of 4 Kt() 900 K in order to obtain the nonmagnetic component of the resistivity at all temperatures. Only the Neel phase transition was observed in these measurements with no resistivity anomalies taking place at -Va. The experimental results on the resisitivity were analyzed according the model of Chui et al.. The magnetic component of the electrical resistivity was calculated from the model with and without the inclusion of the effects of resonant impurity scattering of the conduction electrons by the local impurity states lying in the SDW energy gap. The magnetic contributions were found to be appreciable above TN, even up to temperatures as high as 1.5TN. The neutron-diffraction experiments show that the Cr + 1.9 at.% Fe crystal remains in the ISDW phase at all temperatures below TN. This is an unexpected result as a CSDW-ISDW phase transition is expected at To, the temperature of the observed anomaly in elastic constant and thermal expansion measurements on the crystal

M.Sc. / The aim of this study is to show that there exists a parallelism between the effect of the concentration of the itinerant electrons per atoom, and the applied hydrostatic pressure, p, on the magnetic phase diagram of a Cr + 0.2 at.% Ir alloy. This Cr-Ir alloy was chosen, because it contains all possible magnetic phases that can exist in a Cr alloy.