51V (n,β) 52Cr nuclear transmutation induced magnetic order in vanadyl sulphate: EPR evidence of high temperature magnetic order

EPR studies of VOSO4·5H2O revealed that, on reactor neutron irradiation, it exhibits magnetic order and regions of spin glass behavior which is persistent even up to 473 K. This is attributed to dehydration of the compound together with homogeneous incorporation, in the lattice, of chromium produced due to nuclear reaction 51V (n,β) 52Cr. Experiments with gamma irradiated and heat treated samples doped with chromate, have given strong support to the role of chromium in inducing the magnetic order.