The Relationship Between Magnetic Interactions and Near Neighbor Interatomic Distances in the Transition Metal Sublattice of R(Mn/Fe)6A6 (R=Nd or Sm, A=Ge or Sn)

The magnetic and crystallographic structures of R(Fe/Mn)6A6 (R=Nd or Sm and A=Ge or Sn) intermetallics have been investigated using x-ray and neutron diffraction techniques and superconducting quantum interference device magnetic measurements. For both stannides (A=Sn) and germanides (A=Ge), the lattice contracts with increasing iron content. In the case of the stannides, substitution of manganese by iron enhances the saturation magnetization and Curie temperature at low iron concentrations (x≤2) suggesting the presence of an extremely rare occurrence, positive coupling between iron and manganese magnetic moments. In contrast, the magnetic properties of the germanides deteriorate rapidly as manganese is replaced by iron. This difference in the dependence of magnetic properties on the iron content between the germanides and stannides is explained using the Bethe–Slater relationship between near neighbor exchange interactions and interatomic distances. Based on the observations described in this article, it is concluded that the critical near neighbor interatomic distance above which manganese/iron moments couple positively in these intermetallics is ∼2.614 Å