Statistical Physics Group

Amorphous alloys of the tin-iron system have been prepared by the vapor-quenching technique. Bulk magnetic data show typical "spin-glass-like" behavior in the low-temperature susceptibility and in the remanent magnetization for alloys containing less than about 40 at.% of iron. A multicritical magnetic phase diagram with paramagnetic, ferromagnetic, and spin-glass-like phases is proposed. High-field magnetization measured up to 150 kOe strongly suggests that local anisotropy, randomly oriented through the material, might successfully compete with exchange interactions for some of the iron clusters.