Magnetic relaxation measurements ofα−Fe2O3antiferromagnetic particles below 1 K

In this paper we report magnetic relaxation data for antiferromagnetic alpha-Fe2O3 particles of 5 nm mean diameter in the temperature range 0.1 K to 25 K. The average spin value of these particles S=124 and the uniaxial anisotropy constant D=1.6x10^-2 K have been estimated from the experimental values of the blocking temperature and anisotropy field. The observed plateau in the magnetic viscosity from 3 K down to 100 mK agrees with the occurrence of spin tunneling from the ground state Sz = S. However, the scaling M vs Tln(nu t) is broken below 5 K, suggesting the occurrence of tunneling from excited states below this temperature.