PROTON MAGNETIC RESONANCE IN PARAMAGNETIC AND ANTIFERROMAGNETIC CoCl2∙6H2O

Abstract

The transition temperature TN of CoCl2∙6H2O was measured as a function of applied field and crystal orientation using the proton resonance lines, since they are very sensitive functions of temperature near TN. TN was found to be a complicated function of the applied field and crystal orientation, which cannot be described by the molecular field approximation. The transition is gradual rather than sudden and coexistence of the NMR spectra associated with the paramagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases was observed over a temperature region of about 10−2 °K. Short-range order effects were observed near TN in the form of anomalous broadening of the magnetic resonance lines. The magnetic susceptibility in zero field was measured along the preferred axis of antiferromagnetic alignment. This, together with specific heat data from published literature, was used to show a mutual consistency between thermodynamic variables and the dependence of TN on H in low fields as obtained by NMR. The treatment follows that of Buckingham and Fairbank for the λ transition in liquid helium. The sublattice magnetization in the antiferromagnetic phase was measured as a function of temperature. It was found to depend logarithmically on (TN – T), for all values of applied field.