Soft X-ray magnetic circular dichroism study of Al40Mn25Fe15Ge20 decagonal quasicrystal

Abstract: Magnetic properties of a spin-glass Al40Mn25Fe15Ge20 decagonal quasicrystal (QC) have been studied by means of soft X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (MCD). Element specific magnetic hysteresis (ESMH) loops have been measured as magnetic field dependence of MCD intensity at the Mn and Fe L3-edges. A significant difference has been found in the ESMH loops between Mn and Fe in the QC, where only the Mn loop has an obvious remanent-like magnetization. This result of ESMH has suggested that Mn and Fe magnetic moments have different magnetic viscosities in the spin-glass QC. A ferromagnetic approximant-crystalline Al40Mn40Ge20 has also been investigated in comparison with the QC. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]