Microscopic magnetic properties of (V1-xTix)2O3 near the phase boundary of the metal-insulator transition

Magnetic susceptibility (X) and V-51 NMR have been measured in (V1-xTix)(2)O-3 near the phase boundary of the metal-insulator transition. It is established that the transition from antiferromagnetic insulating (AFI) to antiferromagnetic metallic phases near x(c) approximate to 0.05 is not quantum critical, but is discontinuous with a jump of the transition temperature. In the AFI phase at 4.2 K, we observed the satellite in the zero-field V-51 NMR spectrum around 181 MHz in addition to the 'host' resonance around 203 MHz. The satellite is also observable in the paramagnetic metallic phase of the x = 0.055 sample. We associated the satellite with the V sites near Ti, which are in the V3+-like oxidation state, but has different temperature dependence of the NMR shift from that of the host V site. The host d-spin susceptibility for x = 0.055 decreases below similar to60 K, but remains finite in the low-temperature limit. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.