A neutron diffraction investigation of domain formation in a staggered field induced by uniaxial stress in CoF2

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The enhanced staggered field obtained by subjecting CoF2 crystals to uniaxial stress in the (110) direction has been used to produce nearly single 180 degrees domain crystals. The effect of the staggered field has been monitored using polarised neutron diffraction by measuring the variation in polarisation ratios of mixed magnetic and nuclear reflections. A quantitative determination of the domain population has been obtained using a simple model to correct for extinction in the crystal. The results show that the domain population is determined very largely by the conditions of stress and magnetic field as the crystal is cooled through the Neel temperature. A stress of 550*106 dyne cm-2 and an applied field of 48 kOe was sufficient to obtain an imbalance of 94% in the domain populations.