Studies of metastable Gd-Ag alloy thin films

Gd-Ag alloy thin films have been prepared by vapour quenching on to substrates at 4.2 K, 77 K and room temperature. The formation of alloys has been verified by X-ray diffraction, ESR studies and microprobe analysis. Curie temperatures have been inferred from ESR studies. Over the composition ranges investigated there has been found a marked difference in variation of Curie temperature and g factor with composition for the low temperature and high temperature deposition. X-ray diffraction studies have shown that the Gd rich alloys are amorphous and that precipitation into the constituent elements occurs on annealing. An empirical relation for the temperature dependence of the ESR half power half line width in the paramagnetic region has been derived.