The canted ferrimagnetic structure of Nd5Ge4 by neutron diffraction

The chemical and magnetic structures of the intermetallic compound Nd₅Ge₄ were determined from neutron diffraction powder data. In contrast to the isomorphous heavy rare-earth compounds, Nd₅Ge₄ orders with a canted ferrimagnetic arrangement below T_c = 52 K. The ordered Nd moments are 2.6, 3.1 and 2.4 μ_B for the three sites respectively. The magnetic space group is Pnm'a' and the plane of easy magnetization (010).