Spin-canting and transverse relaxation in maghemite nanoparticles and in tin-doped maghemite

The magnetic properties of maghemite nanoparticles and tin-doped maghemite have been studied by 57Fe and 119Sn Mössbauer spectroscopy at temperatures from 6 to 300K with and without applied magnetic fields. The low-temperature 57Fe spectra of both samples, obtained in a field of 4T, can be described in terms of A-site and B-site components with perfect ferrimagnetic order and a strongly canted component, which seems to have its main contribution from B-site ions.

At higher temperatures, the components with strong canting are influenced by transverse relaxation, which results in significant line broadening, a reduction of the magnetic hyperfine splitting and a reduction in the relative areas of lines 2 and 5. The 119Sn spectra show a very broad distribution of magnetic hyperfine fields at low temperatures.

When the sample was exposed to applied magnetic fields the distribution became narrower. The spectra show that the direction of the hyperfine field of a large fraction of the tin ions in maghemite is antiparallel to the applied field, but a minor fraction of the tin ions have canted hyperfine fields.