Direct evidence of Ni magnetic moment in TbNi2Mn-X-ray magnetic circular dichroism

We have investigated the individual magnetic moments of Ni, Mn and Tb atoms in the intermetallic compound TbNi2Mn in the Laves phase (magnetic phase transition temperature TC ∼131 K) by X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) studies at 300 K, 80 K and 20 K. Analyses of the experimental results reveal that Ni atoms at 20 K in an applied magnetic field of 1 T carry an intrinsic magnetic moment of spin and orbital magnetic moment contributions 0.53±0.01 μB and 0.05±0.01 μB, respectively. These moment values are similar to those of the maximum saturated moment of Ni element. A very small magnetic moment of order