Determination of hyperfine field distributions in
amorphous magnets

Bentley, PM; Kilcoyne, SH

Abstract

We present an overview of two leading methods of determining probability
distributions from M¨ossbauer spectra, using the model amorphous magnet
Fe80B20. A comparison is made between the maximum-entropy method, which
permits analysis using truly arbitrary parameter probability distributions, and a
Voigtian-based analysis, which uses a sum of Gaussian components to create
parameter distributions of pseudo-arbitrary shape. Our results indicate that, in
Fe80B20, a Gaussian distribution of magnetic hyperfine fields is a very good
approximation, although small deviations from a Gaussian shape are evident.
We find that the apparent existence of correlations between the isomer shift
and magnetic hyperfine field parameters, as found using Voigt-based analyses,
may be an artefact of imposing a Gaussian shape on the parameter distributions.
We conclude that maximum entropy and Voigtian analyses together provide
a very powerful means of characterizing magnetic materials with M¨ossbauer
spectroscopy.

Citation

amorphous magnets. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 18, 7751-7759. https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/18/32/022

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Deposit Date: Oct 6, 2010
• Journal: Journal of Physics Condensed Matter
• Print ISSN: 0953-8984
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 18
• Pages: 7751-7759
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/18/32/022
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/18/32/022