The ferrimagnetic structure of Fe2Mo3O12: dependence of Fe–O–O–Fe supersuperexchange couplings on geometry

Abstract The magnetic structure of Fe 2 Mo 3 O 12 was determined by neutron powder diffraction and magnetization studies. The magnetic unit cell is identical with the monoclinic chemical one ( Z =8), and the magnetic space group is P2 1 /a. The magnetic moments are ferromagnetically aligned along the b -axis for each sublattice corresponding to each Fe-site. There are four different Fe-sites, and the magnetic moments are parallel within two of them, but antiparallel to those of the other two sublattices, so that a ferrimagnetic structure results. The dominant antiferromagnetic supersuperexchange couplings are those along Fe–O–O–Fe paths with the two bridging oxygens belonging to one [MoO 4 ]-tetrahedron and forming large Fe–O–O and O–O–Fe angles.