Local Symmetry around the Glass-Former Sites in Amorphous Metallic Alloys through Electric Quadrupole Effects

Through NMR investigation of quadrupolar effects in some amorphous alloys (La₇₅{Ga}₂₅$, ${Mo}₇₀B₃₀, Mo₄₈{Ru}₃₂B₂₀, Ni₇₈{P}₁₄B₈) the local symmetry is determined around the s-p element sites. A comparison with the corresponding crystalline compounds (La₃Ga, Mo₂B, Ni₃B) which have typically different crystal structures (cubic, tetragonal, orthorhombic, respectively) gives conclusive evidence that the amorphous structure retains to a significant extent the local symmetry of the crystalline counterpart.