Crystallographic and magnetic structure of Pr6Fe13AuD13

Neutron diffraction performed on deuterated powder samples of Pr6Fe13Au shows that the crystal structure of the parent compound is retained upon charging with deuterium. The refined composition of the deuteride is Pr6Fe13AuD13. The deuterium atoms occupy various types of interstitial sites bounded by Pr and Fe atoms. Each of these sites is surrounded by at least two Pr atoms. A collinear anti ferromagnetic ordering of the four Fe and the two Pr sublattices was reported previously for the uncharged Pr6Fe13Au compound. By contrast, a collinear ferromagnetic structure has been derived from the present neutron data of the deuteride. The easy moment direction is the same in Pr6Fe13AuD13 and Pr6Fe13Au, being perpendicular to the c-axis. For the deuteride this result was derived from a complementary synchrotron radiation X-ray study made on magnetically aligned particles of the ferromagnetic deuteride. (C) 2002 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.