The Kondo lattice antiferromagnet YbNiSi3 was investigated by neutron scattering. The magnetic structure of YbNiSi3 was determined by neutron diffraction on a single-crystalline sample. Inelastic scattering experiments were also performed on a pulverized sample to study the crystalline electric field (CEF) excitations. Two broad CEF excitations were observed, from which the CEF parameters were determined. The temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility chi and the magnetic specific heat Cmag were calculated using the determined CEF model, and compared with previous results.
By the single crystal inelastic neutron scattering the orthoferrite HoFeO3 was studied. We show that the spin dynamics of the Fe subsystem does not change through the spin-reorientation transitions. The observed spectrum of magnetic excitations was analyzed in the frames of linear spin-wave theory. Within this approach the antiferromagnetic exchange interactions of nearest neighbors and next nearest neighbors were obtained for Fe subsystem. Parameters of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions at Fe subsystem were refined. The temperature dependence of the gap in Fe spin-wave spectrum indicates the temperature evolution of the anisotropy parameters. The estimations for the values of Fe-Ho and Ho-Ho exchange interaction were made as well.
Temperature and field-dependent magnetization $M(H,T)$ measurements and neutron scattering study of a single crystal CeSb$_2$ are presented. Several anomalies in the magnetization curves have been confirmed at low magnetic field, i.e., 15.6 K, 12 K, and 9.8 K. These three transitions are all metamagnetic transitions (MMT), which shift to lower temperatures as the magnetic field increases. The anomaly at 15.6 K has been suggested as paramagnetic (PM) to ferromagnetic (FM) phase transition. The anomaly located at around 12 K is antiferromagnetic-like transition, and this turning point will clearly split into two when the magnetic field $Hgeq0.2$ T. Neutron scattering study reveals that the low temperature ground state of CeSb$_2$ orders antiferromagnetically with commensurate propagation wave vectors $textbf{k}=(-1,pm1/6,0)$ and $textbf{k}=(pm1/6,-1,0)$, with Neel temperature $T_Nsim9.8$ K. This transition is of first-order, as shown in the hysteresis loop observed by the field cooled cooling (FCC) and field cooled warming (FCW) processes.
Theoretical DFT calculations using GGA+U and HSE06 frameworks enabled vibrational mode assignment and partial (atomic) phonon DOS determination in KAgF3 perovskite, a low-dimensional magnetic fluoroargentate(II). Twelve bands in the spectra of KAgF3 were assigned to either IR active or Raman active modes, reaching very good correlation with experimental values (R2>0.997). Low-temperature Raman measurements indicate that the intriguing spin-Peierls-like phase transition at 230 K is an order-disorder transition and it does not strongly impact the vibrational structure of the material.
We report on the electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility and heat-capacity measurements on a new intermetallic compound CePd5Al2, crystallizing in the ZrNi2Al5-type tetragonal structure, with lattice parameters a = 4.156 A and c = 14.883 A. The compound presents Kondo lattice behavior and an easy-plane antiferromagnetic ground state with two magnetic transitions at 2.9 K and 3.9 K. The Sommerfeld coefficient is estimated as 60 mJ/mol K^2.
We report on the structural, thermodynamic and transport properties of high-quality single crystals of YbNiSi3 grown by the flux method. This compound crystallizes in the SmNiGe3 layered structure type of the Cmmm space group. The general physical behavior is that of a Kondo lattice showing an antiferromagnetic ground state below T_N = 5.1 K. This is among the highest ordering temperatures for a Yb-based intermetallic, indicating strong exchange interaction between the Yb ions, which are close to +3 valency based on the effective moment of 4.45 mu_B/f.u. The compound has moderately heavy-electron behavior with Sommerfeld coefficient 190 mJ/mol K^2. Resistivity is highly anisotropic and exhibits the signature logarithmic increase below a local minimum, followed by a sharp decrease in the coherent/magnetically ordered state, resulting in residual resistivity of 1.5 micro Ohm cm and RRR = 40. Fermi-liquid behavior consistent with a ground-state doublet is clearly observed below 1 K.