Research Symposium

BIO

My name is Andrew Nault and I am a junior in college. I am from Ft.lauderdale but have lived in Tallahassee most of my life. I do research with Dr.Shatruk's group studying/creating solid state magnets. My research interest is in nuclear chemistry and plan on pursuing that after I complete my undergraduate degree. My goal in research is to help push nuclear energy

Investigating the structure and magnetic properties of YbMnSi

Abstract

Ytterbium based manganese germanide and silicide (YbMnGe and YbMnSi) are veryinteresting intermetallic compounds, first of all the 1-1-1 stoichiometric ratio adopteddifferent spaced groups at high temperature (HT) from low temperature (LT). YbMnGeHT phase adopts ZrNiAl-hexagonal structure while a LT phase adopts TiNiSi-orthorombic structure. Similar to LT YbMnGe, YbMnSi adopts a stable TiNiSi structureat all temperatures. In addition, Yb adopts variable oxidation states which are importantin magnetic properties of Yb-based intermetallic compounds. In this research, we reportfor the first time, the magnetic properties of YbMnSi, this compound showsantiferromagnetic ordering at Neel temperature (TN) = 303 K due to Mn moment and ananomalous magnetic behavior at low temperature around 13 K, we assigned this lowtemperature behavior to Yb moment. X-ray absorption spectrum confirms Yb to be +3which is a magnetic form of Yb. Rietveld refinement on x-ray diffraction data show thatYbMnSi conforms to TiNiSi-orthorhombic structure similar to what was reported in theliterature. In future, we plan to uncover the magnetic structure of YbMnSi using neutrondiffraction technique, also, we plan to research into how chemical substitution anddoping could influence the magnetic and structure of YbMnSi.

Keywords: Inorganic Chemistry, Solid State, Magnetism