Mössbauer spectroscopy study of the EuO:Fe spintronic material

The states of iron and europium in the EuO:Fe composite spintronic material have been studied by means of room-temperature Mössbauer spectroscopy. In both cases, two sets of lines indicating the ferromagnetism and superparamagnetism of metallic iron nanoparticles in the composite and the appearance of a fraction of europium ions in the Eu³⁺ oxidation state in the matrix in addition to the main Eu²⁺ state have been observed in the respective spectra. In the europium case, the observation implies the possibility of a partial spin polarization of paramagnetic europium ions in Eu-Fe-O clusters and an increased specific magnetization of the composite.