Spin glass behaviour in the rare earth ternary stannide HoRh1.2Sn3.9

Dynamic susceptibility measurements on HoRh_1.2Sn_3.9 have been performed in the vicinity of its magnetic transition at T_M = 1.7 K. χ'(T) exhibits a cusp-like peak, which is substantially depressed when an external field of a few mT is applied. Below T_M a strong frequency dependence of the susceptibility is found. The results are very similar to those of classical spin glass behaviour for HoRh_1.2Sn_3.9. Results on other phase II ternary stannides as, e.g., the reentrant magnetic superconductor ErRh_1.1Sn_3.6 may be interpreted likewise.     

Magnetic properties of RCoSi2 compounds (R=rare earth)

New ternary silicides of composition RCoSi₂ (R=rare earth and Y) have been prepared and found to crystallize in the orthorhombic CeNiSi₂-type structure. Their magnetic properties have been studied by means of susceptibility measurements between 2 and 250 K. The Ce and Y compounds show essentially temperature independent Pauli paramagnetism. The compounds with R=Nd, Sm, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er and Tm show antiferromagnetic ordering below 20 K. The effective rare earh moments in the paramagnetic state agree well with the free ion values, and, for the heavy rare earths, the Néel temperatures vary with the De Gennes factor. There is no indication for a magnetic contribution from the Co sublattice.     

Spin structures with frustrated moments in RNiAl intermetallic compounds

Magnetic order in the ternary equiatomic intermetallic compounds PrNiAl, DyNiAl and HoNiAl is investigated by means of neutron powder diffraction and dc- and ac-susceptibility measurements. DyNiAl shows two magnetic phases: It is ferromagnetic between T₁ =15 K and T_c = 31 K and a tilted antiferromagnet below T₁. HoNiAl is a ferromagnet in a narrow temperature region just below T_c = 14.5 K, but furthermore exhibits two tilted antiferromagnetic phases (T₁ =5.5 K, T₂ = 12.5 K). The corresponding magnetic structures differ in the ordering of some of the magnetic moments which are coupled by frustrated bonds. The existence of those frustrated moments, which is induced by the topology is a common phenomenon in the hexagonal RNiAl series. They are manifested with reduced mean values of their moments in the elastic neutron spectra. Another interesting observation is the scaling of the second temperature T₁ at which the frustrated spins change their order: For all heavy rare earths investigated so far (R = Tb, Dy, Ho) we find T₁: T_N,C ≈ 1: 2. PrNiAl displays an incommensurate sinusoidal (TSW) structure with XY spin behaviour below T_N = 6.9 K, and only one ordered phase is found. The observed ordering temperatures roughly follow the de Gennes scaling factor.     

Superconducting and normal state properties of Ag1−xSn1 + xSe2−y

The occurrence of superconductivity in a new ternary non-transition element compound with the cubic NaCl structure is reported. The composition of this compound is Ag_1?xSn_{1 + x}Se_2?y, with a maximum homogeneity range given by ?0.02 ?x?0.24 and 0 ? y ?0.1. The superconducting transition temperature (T_c) ranges from a minimum of 4.5 K for x = ?0.02, y = 0 to a maximum of 6.9 K for x = 0.24,y = 0. These T_c's are higher than previously observed in nontransition element NaCl structure compounds. Electrical resistivity data show a positive temperature coefficient, and room temperature magnetic susceptibility measurements reveal a rapidly increasing density of states at the Fermi level with increasing x. Two ionic models for calculating the carrier concentration of Ag_1?xSn_{1 + x}Se_2?y are discussed, and a third model based on the band picture is proposed. The composition dependence of the magnetic susceptibility was used to test the validity of each of the models.     

Magnetic properties and spin order of Sr7Fe10O22

The magnetic properties of Sr₇Fe₁₀O₂₂ have been investigated by means of magnetic susceptibility and Mössbauer absorption measurements. This compound proved to be antiferromagnetic with a Néel temperature T_N = 425 K; the magnetic susceptibility is constant from the lowest measuring temperature (78 K) up to T_N.The Mössbauer measurements and the analogies with “brownmillerite” type compounds indicate that iron ions occupy one octahedral and two tetrahedral different sites. An antiferromagnetic spin configuration with moments lying in the ab plane appears to be consistent with the experimental results. A small spontaneous magnetic moment was observed at room temperature with features resembling those of strontium hexaferrite; a weak ferromagnetic behavior can not however be excluded taking into account the aforementioned susceptibility behaviour.     

Magnetic properties of the R1+eFe4B4 compounds (R = rare earth) from magnetization and Mössbauer measurements

The magnetic properties of rare earth-iron-boron alloys with composition R_1+eFe₄B₄ have been determined using Mössbauer and magnetization measurements. Magnetic ordering occurs at temperatures between 4.2 and 25 K for the compounds with R = Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho. The Curie temperature scales very well with the de Gennes factor for the heavy rare earth members of the series, while significant deviations are observed for the light rare earths indicating the presence of strong CEF effects. The absence of magnetic hyperfine splitting even at 4.2 K indicates that the Fe ion has a zero magnetic moment. This is confirmed by Mössbauer spectra in an applied magnetic field.     

Magnetic interactions between Copper and RE in RE Ba2Cu3O7-δ

The antiferromagnetic ordering temperatures of the rare earth (RE) moments in RE Ba₂ Cu₃O_7-gd, obtained from specific heat measurements, are roughly in agreement with the de Gennes factors, i.e., the ordering mechanism can be mainly seen as an indirect spin-spin exchange. However, the oxygen dependence of T _N is found to be reversed for the light rare earths compared to the heavy rare earths. As origin for this systematic observation an indirect interaction between the 3d-moments of copper and the 4f-moments of rare earths is discussed as a second order effect. Such an interaction is supported by measurements of the 4f relaxation behavior on the Nd 1: 2: 3 cuprates by inelastic magnetic neutron scattering. Here, the usual thermally driven increase of the magnetic relaxation rate is suppressed up to about 80 K. This correlates with the appearance of a spin gap found by Rossat- Mignod in YBa₂Cu₃O₇ and therefore the 3d-4f coupling can be understood as an interaction of the 4f moments with a spin-fluctuation exchange in the CuO₂ planes. Furthermore, the quasielastic magnetic response has a Gaussian contribution at temperatures below 100 K, i.e., much above the long ranged ordering temperatures T _N. Magnon-like excitations appear already at slightly larger temperatures than T _N. In addition the paramagnetic inelastic spectra show only little dependence of the crystal field scheme on the oxygen concentration.     

Crystal field effects on the magnetic structures of the rare earth compounds with the FeB structure

In order to confirm the role of the crystalline electric potential on the stability of non collinear magnetic structures of the rare earth compounds with the FeB-type structure, the magnetic properties of the (Gd_0.5Y_0.5)Ni compound, where the rare earth orbital moment is nul, are studied. Below its Curie temperature (57 K) the compound is ferromagnetic. The spontaneous magnetization at 0 K reaches 7.05 μ_B per gadolinium atom. Yttrium and nickel atoms being not magnetic the gadolinium moments are parallel and the exchange interactions are positive. Then the non collinear magnetic structures observed when the alloyed rare earths have an orbital moment result from the competition between a multiaxial anisotropy due to the crystal field effects and isotropic exchange interactions of the Heisenberg type.     

Magnetic anomalies in Gd2PdSi3

The results of ac and dc magnetic susceptibility, thermopower and Hall effect measurements of a compound, Gd₂PdSi₃, establish that this compound orders magnetically below T_n = 20 K. Though the ordering appears to be of an antiferromagnetic-type, the paramagnetic Curie temperature is positive with the magnitude being nearly the same as that of T_N, suggestive of the existence of ferromagnetic correlations. The thermopower at 300 K is large, apparently due to Pd 4d electrons, decreasing monotonically with temperature. There is a change in the sign of Hall constant well below T_N Also considering the observation of Kondo-like characteristics above 21K earlier by us, the overall thermal, transport and magnetic behaviour of this compound is interesting.     

NMR,magnetic susceptibility and specific heat of CrAl7

The temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility, Knight shift and specific heat for the compound CrAl₇ have been measured. These measurements point out that, at the temperature around T_N ≈220 K the compound CrAl₇ presents a second order phase transition from the electron itinerant antiferromagnetism state to the paramagnetic state. The NMR and magnetic susceptibility measurements are correlated and the results are discussed in terms of the electron itinerant antifer-romagnetism and rigid band models. For the temperature independent-term of the susceptibility all the contributions are given.     

Mössbauer spectroscopy in highT c superconductors

Mossbauer spectroscopy has recently been applied to study the new high T_c superconducting compounds RBa₂Cu₃O_z, using isotopes of rare earths mainly¹⁵⁵Gd and¹⁵¹Eu, and⁵⁷Fe, with different amounts of Fe ions replacing Cu. It was shown that magnetic moments on the rare earth site do not interfere with superconductivity. Fe at low concentrations (<1%) was found to replace Cu mainly in the Cu(1) site, and the Mossbauer spectra reveal different quadrupole doublets-fol lowing the different oxygen coordination around the Fe ion. The change of the relative intensities of the different doublets with z can easily be followed. For higher iron concentrations, it seems that increasing amounts of iron replace Cu in the Cu(2) site. For z<6.5, the iron reflects the magnetic ordering of Cu in this site, and the ordering temperature as function of z can be obtained. The agreement between neutron diffraction and Mossbauer measurements prove that Fe is a good probe for the magnetic behaviour of the Cu(2) ions. At low temperatures, Fe Mossbauer spectra of Fe in the Cu(1) site are also magnetically broadened, for all z. Superconducting-magnetic phase diagrams are also obtained in Y_1−x Pr_x Ba₂ Cu₃O_z as function of x and z. For z=7.1, T_N changes sharply with x. T_N=300, 230 and 35 K for x=0.8, 0.6 and 0.4 respectively, whereas for z=6.1 T_N changes very little with x. Mossbauer measurements performed on 5 at %⁵⁷Fe doped in CalaBaCu₃O_z show that most of the la occupy the Ba site. For z=7 about half the iron in the Cu(2) sites are magnetically ordered, with H_eff=520 kOe and T_N=400 K, even though the sample is superconducting with T_c=35 K. The possibility of coexistence between superconductivity and magnetic order in these systems will be discussed.     

Spin-glass and magnetic blocking transitions in amorphous YFe2

Low field dc magnetic susceptibility measurements on amorphous YFe₂ show a distinct cusp-like peak at T_S.G. = 58 K. This result, together with earlier Mo&#x030B;ssbauer and neutron scattering measurements, indicates that a true thermodynamic spin-glass transition occurs at T_S.G.. In addition, susceptibility and coercive field data are presented which strongly suggest a magnetic freezing or blocking temperature near T = 20 K. This is the first time these two magnetic phenomena have been observed in the same magnetic system.     

The parallel susceptibility at 0 K of the double magnetic helix

The parallel susceptibility x^∥ at 0 K of a double magnetic helix of pitch angle ? in which two species of magnetic ions are acted on by unequal molecular fields is determined. The conditions under which x^∥ is equal to the 0 K perpendicular susceptibility x^⊥ calculated in the past are determined. Comparison is made with the powder susceptibility measurements performed on the orthorhombic compound La₂Fe_1.5Mn_0.5S₅ which displays a double magnetic helix up to T_N = 85 K.     

Magnetic properties of MgCo2, MgNi2 and Mg2Ni

The magnetic properties of MgCo₂, MgNi₂ and Mg₂Ni were investigated in the range 4–400 K. The compound MgCo₂ is ferromagnetic below T_c = 321 but gives rise to a first order ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic transition near 45 K. The compounds MgNi₂ and Mg₂Ni are both Pauli paramagnetic; they have an almost temperature-independent magnetic susceptibility. For all compounds the lattice constants were determined.     

Spontaneous magnetostriction in R2Fe14B (R=Y,Nd, Gd,Tb, Er)

Thermal expansion anomalies of R₂Fe₁₄B (R=Y, Nd, Gd, Tb, Er) stoichiometric compounds were studied by X-ray diffraction with high-energy synchrotron radiation using a Debye–Scherrer geometry in temperature range of ∼10–1000 K. A large invar effect with a corresponding large temperature dependence of lattice parameters ∼10–15 K above their Curie temperatures (T_c) are observed. The a-axes show a larger invar effect than the c-axes in all compounds. The spontaneous magnetostrain of the lattices and bonds are calculated. The iron sublattice is shown to dominate the volumetric spontaneous magnetostriction of the compounds and the contribution from the rare-earth sublattice is roughly proportional to the spin magnetic moment of the rare earths. The bond-length changes are consistent with the theoretical spin-density calculation. The average bonds magnetostrain around Fe sites is approximately proportional to their magnetic moments.     

Structural and magnetic properties and hyperfine interaction in La3.5Ru4O13 compound

Structural, magnetic and hyperfine interaction measurements have been carried out on the novel compound La_3.5Ru₄O₁₃ prepared under two different atmospheres (air and oxygen flow). This compound is formed in the orthorhombic structure (space group Pmmm, # 47). The coexistence of the triple-layered perovskite-type planes (quasi-2D structure) and the rutile-like slabs (1D structure) leads to interesting magnetic and electronic properties in this compound. The magnetic susceptibility of this system shows a peak at T~47 K associated with antiferromagnetic interactions. The Curie-Weiss behaviour of the susceptibility provides an effective magnetic moment consistent with Ru ions in low-spin state. Perturbed angular correlation measurements carried out with ¹¹¹Cd probe in the temperature range 10-60 K reveal only quadrupole interactions and indicate the occurrence of structural distortions for T<40 K.     

Magnetic properties of Sn1-xCrxTe crystals

Magnetization measurements of magnetic semiconductor Sn_1-xCr_xTe (x <5 at%) crystals with the Curie temperature T_c = 150–300 K were made down to 2 K. The magnetic properties are sensitive to isothermal annealing under Zn vapor. The overall magnetizations of the Zn-annealed crystals have paramagnetic and ferro- or antiferromagnetic contributions.     

Superconductivity of rare earth-barium-copper oxides

We report the superconductivity of R-Ba-Cu-O compounds for rare earths R = Sm through Ho. The Nd and Tm compounds were not observed to be superconducting. The T_c onsets for the Eu and Gd compounds are comparable to that observed for Y-Ba-Cu-O. An approximate value for the upper critical field slope of the Gd compound is given.     

High pressure synthesis of the mixed valent and nonsuperconducting ternary YbRhxSny compound

The ternary compound YbRh_1.4Sn_4.6 with the phase I structure (simple cubic) when subjected to a pressure of 40 kbar at 800°C is found to transform to phase III structure (f.c.c.) with the composition YbRh_1.1Sn₃. The latter compound has a lattice parameter of $\text{a = 13.735}\text{A}\text{?}$ which suggests that the Yb is in an intermediate valence state. The temperature dependence of magnetic susceptibility suggests that the Yb is in a homogeneously mixed valence state in the pressure synthesized product. In the phase I structure YbRh_1.1Sn_4.6 is superconducting at 8.6°K, but in the phase III structure the compound YbRh_1.1Sn₃ is not superconducting down to 0.9°K. It is suggested that superconductivity and mixed valence are incompatible.     

151Eu Mössbauer spectroscopic, electric, and magnetic measurements of EuAgGe and EuAuGe

The physical properties of EuAgGe and EuAuGe, the structures of which are derived from the CeCu₂ type, have been investigated in detail by means of magnetic susceptibility, electrical conductivity and ¹⁵¹Eu Mössbauer measurements. Above 50 K both germanides show Curie--Weiss behavior with experimental magnetic moments of \mu _exp=7.70(5) \mu _B (EuAgGe) and \mu _exp=7.40(5) \mu _B (EuAuGe) and Weiss constants of -2(1) K (EuAgGe) and 33(1) K (EuAuGe). For EuAgGe, a magnetic phase transition is observed below 18(1) K. Zero-field cooling and field cooling measurements indicate cluster glass behavior (weak ferromagnetism, mictomagnetism). Magnetization measurements at 5 K show a saturation magnetic moment of 3.3(2) \mu _B/Eu at 5.5 T. ¹⁵¹Eu Mössbauer measurements show a Eu(II) valence state (\delta =-10.4 mm/s). While magnetic hyperfine splitting appears in the spectra at temperatures as high as 15 K, complete magnetic ordering is not reached at temperatures down to 4.2 K. EuAuGe orders ferromagnetically at 32.9(2) K. Magnetization measurements at 2 K show a saturation magnetic moment of 6.2(1) \mu _B/Eu at 5.5 T, respectively, indicating that all spins are ordered ferromagnetically at low temperatures. ¹⁵¹Eu Mössbauer measurements show a Eu(II) valence state (\delta =-10.6 mm/s) and two spectral components in an approximate 1:1 ratio, subjected to magnetic hyperfine splitting effects at T₁=32(2) and T₂=18(4) K, respectively. Thus, the transition temperature of 32.9 K observed in the susceptibility measurements appears to be associated with ordering of only one of the two crystallographically distinct europium sites in this compound. Electrical conductivity measurements indicate metallic behavior for both germanides.