Abstract
The garnets $Nd_{1-x}Bi_xY_2Fe_5O_{12}$ ($\chi$=0.0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0) have been studied by x-rays, electron microscopy, ferromagnetic resonance, vibrating sample magnetometer and Mossbauer spectroscopy, Ultra-fine polycrystalline cubic samples have been prepared by a melt-salt routed sol-gel method. The Mossbauer spectra consist of two sets of six-line patterns corresponding to $Fe^{3+}$ at the tetrahedral 24(d) and octahedral 16(a) sites. Magnetic hyperfine fields of $Nd_{0.5}Bi_{0.5}Y_2Fe_5O_{12}$ at 12 K are found to be 548 kOe (octahedral site) and 475 kOe (tetrahedral site), respectively, It is found that Debye temperatures for the tetrahedral and octahedral sites of $Nd_{0.75}Bi_{0.25}Y_2Fe_5O_{12}$ are $\theta_{tet}=436$ K and $\theta_{oct}=285$ K, respectively, The iron ions at both sites are highly covalent ferric. The Nel temperature decreases linearly with Bi concentration, from 630 K fur $\chi$=0.0 to 600 K for $\chi$=1.0, suggesting that the superexchange interaction for the Nd-O-Fe link is stronger than that for the Bi-O-Fe link. As a consequence, the coercivity of $Nd_{1-x}Bi_xY_2Fe_5O_{12}$ drastically decreases and the magnetization remains almost constant as x increases.
