https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510050572
Magnetic properties of small Yttrium clusters
1
Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, Université Paris-Sud,
Bâtiment 510, 91405 Orsay, France
2
Service de Recherche sur les Surfaces et l'Irradiation
de la Matière, CE-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Corresponding author: a spanjard@lps.u-psud.fr
Received:
27
April
1998
Revised:
23
June
1998
Accepted:
17
July
1998
Published online: 15 December 1998
The magnetic properties of small YN clusters are studied by using
a tight-binding Hubbard Hamiltonian in the unrestricted Hartree-Fock
approximation. Several types of cluster geometries are considered in
order to see the effects of the size and symmetry of the structures on
the magnetic properties. The average
magnetic moments 
are found to be constant over
large domains of variations in the interatomic distance, a fact that
can be explained by the existing closed shell electronic configurations
at least for one spin direction in all our magnetic solutions.
Small energy gains upon the onset of magnetization are obtained,
which reveals the low stability of the magnetic solutions.
Our results contradict the prediction of a magnetic-nonmagnetic transition
at a large cluster size (about 90 atoms) for these kinds of systems.
PACS: 36.40.Cg – Electronic and magnetic properties of clusters / 61.46.+w – Clusters, nanoparticles, and nanocrystalline materials
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 1998
