Magnetic ordering in iron tricyanomethanide.

Magnetic susceptibility, heat capacity, and neutron diffraction studies of Fe[C(CN)(3)](2) reveal the existence of two magnetic phase transitions at T(N,I) = 2.45 K and T(N,II) = 1.85 K. Between 1.85 and 2.45 K, the magnetic ordering is incommensurate with a temperature-dependent propagation vector (k(I,x) 0 0), k(I,x) = 0.525-0.540. In zero magnetic field, below 1.85 K the ordered structure is described by the propagation vector k(II) = ((1/2) 0 (1/2)), i.e., a doubling of the unit cell along the a and c directions of the orthorhombic lattice. The ordered moments of 3.4(1) and 3.2(1) micro(B), respectively, are aligned approximately parallel to the principal axis of the elongated Fe coordination octahedron. At T < T(N,II), application of an external magnetic field of about 18 kOe destroys the commensurate phase and the incommensurate phase is established. The latter phase is stable in fields up to about 40 kOe. The magnetic ordering of Fe[C(CN)(3)](2) is discussed in terms of the 2D triangular topology of the lattice, producing partial frustration, and in comparison with the behavior of other compounds of the series M[C(CN)(3)](2), where M is a 3d transition metal.