Neutrons Not Entitled to Retire at the Age of 60: More than Ever Needed to Reveal Magnetic Structures

Abstract

In 1949 Shull et al. [1] used for the first time neutrons for the determination of a magnetic structure. Ever since, the need for neutrons for the study of magnetism has increased. Two main reasons can be brought forward to explain this ongoing success: First of all a strong rise in research on functional materials (founding obliges) and secondly the increasing availability of easy to use programmes for the treatment of magnetic neutron diffraction data. The giant magnetoresistance effect, multiferroic materials, magnetoelasticity, magnetic shape memory alloys, magnetocaloric materials, high temperature superconductivity or spin polarized half metals: The last 15 years have seen the event of all these “hot topics” where the knowledge of the magnetism is a prerequisite for understanding the underlying functional mechanisms. Refinement programs like FULLPROF or GSAS and programs for magnetic symmetry analysis like BASIREPS or SARAH make the determination of magnetic structures accessible for non specialists. Following a historical overview on the use of neutron powder diffraction for the determination of magnetic structures, I will try to convince you of the easiness of using magnetic symmetry analysis for the determination of magnetic structures using some recent examples of own research on the rare earth iron borate TbFe3(BO3)4 and the rare earth transition metal telluride Ho6FeTe2.