Magnetic texturing due to the partial ordering of Fe+3 and Cu+2 in NdBaCuFeO5

Abstract The crystal and magnetic structure of the oxygen deficient double perovskite NdBaCuFeO5 was studied, using neutron powder diffraction data. The structure was refined from neutron powder diffraction data using the space groups P 4 / mmm and P 4 mm . For 2 K ⩽ T ⩽ T N2 = 260 K three families of magnetic Bragg peaks exist. These peaks can be indexed with commensurate propagation vectors k 1 = 1 2 1 2 1 2 , k 2 = 1 2 1 2 0 and the incommensurate k 3 = 1 2 1 2 0.4 . Above T N 2 only magnetic Bragg peaks originated from k 1 and k 2 propagation, were observed. The incommensurate magnetic structure can be attributed to a circular inclined spiral ordering as in YBaCuFeO5 compound.