Diffusional Relaxation of Quadrupole Interactions of ¹¹¹In/ Cd Probes in IrIn₃ and Related Phases Having FeGa₃ Structure

Abstract

Nuclear relaxation caused by diffusion of 111In/Cd probe atoms was measured in four phases having the tetragonal FeGa3 structure (tP16) using perturbed angular correlation spectroscopy (PAC) and used to gain insight into diffusion processes in phases having more than one diffusion sublattice. The three indide phases studied in this work have two inequivalent and interpenetrating In-sublattices, labeled In1 and In2, and nuclear quadrupole interactions were resolved for probes on each sublattice. The phases are line-compounds with narrow field-widths. Diffusional relaxations, fitted using an exponential damping ansatz, were measured at the two opposing boundary compositions as a function of temperature. “High” and “low” relaxation regimes were observed that are attributed to In-poorer and In-richer compositions, under the reasonable assumption that the atomic motion occurs via an indium-vacancy diffusion mechanism. Relaxation was observed to be greater for tracer atoms starting on In2 sites in the indides immediately following decay of 111In into 111Cd, which is attributed to a preference of daughter Cd-tracer atoms and/or indium vacancies to occupy In1 sites. Activation enthalpies for relaxation are compared with enthalpies for self-diffusion in indium metal.