Measurement of anisotropy constant in US with polarized neutrons

Uranium compounds can have an anisotropy that is considerably greater than that found in rare‐earth compounds. Early estimates of K1 in ferromagnetic US (Tc = 178 K), for example, were that K1 ≳ 108 erg/cm3. We have re‐examined this cubic material and determined K1 in the range of reduced moment (μ/μ0) from 0.1 < (μ/μ0) < 0.7 and find that it varies logarithmically over almost three orders of magnitude.

The highest measured K1 is 2 × 108 erg/cm3 at (μ/μ0) = 0.7, but an extrapolation, which we anticipate on arguments of symmetry, to (μ/μ0)=1, (T=0 K) gives K1 ∼ 1010 erg/cm3, some 20 times more than found in TbFe2 at 0 K. The method we have used is with polarized neutrons. Because the neutron interaction with the magnetic moment is vectorial in nature we can determine individually the magnitude and direction of the moment in an applied field.

In many cases this method has advantages over conventional methods, especially when the anisotropy is large.