Low temperature magnetic properties of
(NH4)2FeF5·H2O
have been investigated via iron-57 Mössbauer
spectroscopy and ac susceptibility measurements. The high
temperature ac susceptibility data can be fitted to a
Curie−Weiss law with C = 4.22 ± 0.05 emu K
mol-1 and ϑ = −3.9 ± 0.5 K while the
fit of the low temperature
data to a Heisenberg linear-chain model yields g = 1.97
± 0.02 and an intrachain constant
J/k
B = −0.40 ±
0.02
K. At lower temperatures
(NH4)2FeF5·H2O
exhibits a crossover to three dimensional magnetic ordering with
T
c
= 2.2 ± 0.05 K and 1.61 ± 0.05 K from Mössbauer
spectroscopy and ac susceptibility, respectively.
Differential
scanning calorimetry measurements suggest a first-order structural
phase transition centered at T
s = 139 ± 1
K
on heating and T
s = 125 ± 1 K on cooling for
(NH4)2FeF5·H2O.
No such transformation is suggested by scanning
calorimetry studies of the corresponding K+,
Rb+ and Cs+ analogues. The limiting
internal hyperfine field, H
n(0
K), is 45 T, indicating some 25% zero point spin reduction consistent
with significant 1-d magnetic behavior.
All the experiments reported here have been performed following
varied and careful thermal treatments. A
particularly interesting result is the observation of a persistent
rapidly relaxing fraction that the Mössbauer spectra
of
(NH4)2FeF5·H2O
clearly exhibit below T
c but which is not seen
in previous studies of the K+, Rb+, and
Cs+
compounds. A probable explanation for this is the loss of magnetic
equivalence of the Fe3+ sites as a result of
the structural phase transition. This behavior further calls into
question the still common practice of interpretation
of low temperature magnetic phenomena largely on the basis of ambient
temperature structure determinations.