Specific features of spin ordering in an Ising antiferromagnet with single-ion easy-plane anisotropy

A thermodynamic analysis of spin ordering in an Ising antiferromagnet with single-ion easy-plane anisotropy is carried out. The solutions of the equations of state are analyzed, and the phase diagram is constructed. It is shown that an increase in the single-ion anisotropy constant as a result of increasing competition between single-ion anisotropy and exchange interaction brings about a crossover from the continuous phase transition to the abrupt phase transition. This is initiated by a change in the ion state populations due to single-ion anisotropy and by the freezing of ionic states with a nonzero spin projection. An increase in the single-ion anisotropy also leads to a crossover of the phase transformation between the paramagnetic and antiferromagnetic states from the order-disorder to order-order type.