A spin-canted antiferromagnetic ground state in CeRu₂Al₁₀

Resonant polarised soft x-ray scattering at the cerium M-edge has been used to refine the magnetic structure of CeRu₂Al₁₀. A strong resonant feature at the cerium M_IV-edge was observed at the disallowed (0, 1, 0) Bragg position, consistent with previous neutron diffraction refinement of the moment pointing along the c-axis. The magnetic peak was found to have a temperature dependence expected for the paramagnetic–antiferromagnetic transition, disappearing above around 30 K. The polarisation dependence of the scattered x-rays conclusively shows that the low-temperature antiferromagnetic structure is non-collinear in nature. Fitting the polarisation dependence of the obtained Stokes parameters was undertaken with models for canting along either the a-axis or the b-axis. The experimental data agrees better with the model involving canting towards the a-axis. However, this is inconsistent with the Cmcm space group, suggestive of a symmetry lowering to either Pmnm or Cm2m. The resulting model is then achieved with a 9.6° ± 1.1 canting of the moments towards the a-axis. No resonance features were observed at the ruthenium L-edges. This suggests that the ruthenium atoms play no part in the antiferromagnetic ordering. (author)