Abstract
Inelastic neutron scattering experiments have been carried out on several Fe‐based alloy glasses in order to study the nature of the long wavelength magnetic excitations. Conventional triple‐axis spectrometry was used but the scattering kinematics restricted the scattering to the near forward direction. Three different alloy systems have been studied: i) Fe75P15C10 (Tc=597°K)1; ii) (Fe1 Mo 1−x)80B10P10 with x=0.93, 0.86 and 0.81(170°K<Tc<450°K)2; and iii) Fe33Pd46P21 (Tc∠190°K)2. For i) and the high Tc sample of ii) spin waves consistent with a ferromagnetic dispersion relation, h/ω (q) =Dq2+Eq4, were observed. No intrinsic linewidth was detected over the entire range of momentum transfer for which the scattering triangle could be closed (q≲0.2 Å−1). In both cases the values of D are too large to account for B in the relation M(T)/M(0) =1−BT3/2+...and the large value of E suggests that higher order terms in M(T) should become important at relatively low temperatures, contrary to observations.4 These discrepancies suggest that these propagating collective modes do not exhaust the low frequency spin fluctuations. The temperature dependence of the spin waves is consistent with ω (T) =ω (0) (1−λT5/2+...) for temperatures up to ∠2/3 Tc, and additional thermal broadening of the line shapes appears at elevated temperatures. Less extensive observations of the sample ii) with intermediate composition reveal broadened but still distinct spin waves at low temperatures. By contrast, in the most magnetically dilute samples, ii) with x=0.81 and iii), no well‐defined spin‐wave scattering has been observed. In the former case quasielastic temperature dependent ’’critical’’ scattering is observed near Tc.