A Neutron Diffraction Study of Magnesium Ferrite

Neutron diffraction patterns have been obtained for polycrystalline magnesium ferrite. Application of a suitably oriented strong magnetic field has made possible a separation of the coherent scattering into its nuclear and magnetic parts. The magnetic scattering is found to be in good agreement with the Néel model of ferrimagnetism. The form factor for the magnetic scattering is found to be, within experimental error, identical with that previously obtained in the case of nickel ferrite. Analysis of the nuclear scattering permits a simultaneous determination of the degree of inversion, which for the specimen used was 0.88±0.01, and the $u$ space group parameter to which the value 0.381±0.001 was assigned.