Antimony-121 Mössbauer Spectral Study of the Eu14MnSb11 and Yb14MnSb11 Zintl Compounds

The antimony-121 Mössbauer spectra of the Yb14MnSb11 and Eu14MnSb11 Zintl compounds have been measured between 2 or 5 and 300 K. The resulting three-dimensional arrays of the spectral counts, velocity, and temperature have been simultaneously fit with a minimum number of free parameters. These fits yield a 0 Kelvin transferred hyperfine field of 2.9(2) T, a Curie temperature of 57(3) K, and a Mössbauer temperature of 182(2) K for Yb14MnSb11; in this case the transferred field arises solely from the ordering of Mn2+. Because Eu14MnSb11 has both Eu2+ and Mn2+ ions that are magnetically ordered, its antimony-121 Mössbauer spectra are more complex and reveal two magnetic transitions, the first at 92(1) K resulting from the ordering of the Mn2+ ions and the second at 9.5(1.0) K resulting from the ordering of the Eu2+ ions; the corresponding 0 Kelvin transferred hyperfine fields are 1.3(1) and 3.7(1) T. The antimony-121 isomer shifts yield electronic configurations of 5s1.745p4.28 and 5s1.745p4.19 for the average antimony anion in Yb14MnSb11 and Eu14MnSb11, respectively.