Mossbauer Study and Atomic Migration in MgFe₂O₄

MgFe₂O₄ has been studied with X-ray diffraction, Mossbauer spectroscopy and vibration sample magnetometer (VSM). The crystal structure of the sample is found to have a cubic spinel structure with a lattice constant of α_0 = 8.390 ± 0.005 Å. The iron ions at both A (tetrahedral) and B (octahedral) sites are found to be in ferric highspin states. Its Neel temperature T_N is found to be 710±3 K. The Debye temperatures for the A and B sites found to be 417±5 K and 331 ± 5 K, respectively. Atomic migation from the A to the B sites starts near 425 K and increases rapidly with increasing temperature to such a degree that 31 % of the ferric ions at the A sites have moved over to the B sites by 600 K.