Nickel sulfide - an itinerant electron antiferromagnet.

Abstract

Antiferromagnetic nickel sulphide has a small temperature-independent magnetic susceptibility. The ordered moment per nickel atom, measured with neutrons, decreases from 1.45?B to 1.00?B at 4.2 K with a decrease of 0.6% in the Ni-Ni distance. These data indicate a band model for the n electrons, making NiS an itinerant-electron antiferromagnet with no local moments. The possibility of local moments in an antiferromagnetic metal is briefly discussed.