No Arabic abstract
X-ray circular magnetic dichroism (XMCD), longitudinal ($chi_{ac}$) and transverse (TS) ac magnetic susceptibility have been measured in several members of the $R$Co$_2$ series ($R$ = Dy, Ho, and Tm) as a function of temperature and applied magnetic field. We show that parimagnetism is a general behavior along the $R$Co$_2$ ferrimagnetic series ($R$ being a heavy rare earth ion). XMCD results evidence the presence of two compensation temperatures, defining two different parimagnetic configurations, which is a fully unexpected result. The inverse $chi_{ac}$ curve exhibits a deviation from Curie-Weiss behavior which is recovered under applied magnetic field. The large excess of polarizability above the critical temperature proves the existence of an enhanced effective moment due to the presence of short range magnetic correlations, which are also observed in TS measurements. The combination of TS and XMCD measurements allows to depict new magnetic phase diagrams for the $R$Co$_2$ series. A new scenario allowing to understand the observed phenomenology as a Griffiths phase-like behavior is proposed, where the amorphous $R$Co$_2$ represents the undiluted system case.
We use high resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and electronic structure calculations to study the electronic properties of rare-earth monoantimonides RSb (R = Y, Ce, Gd, Dy, Ho, Tm, Lu). The experimentally measured Fermi surface (FS) of RSb consists of at least two concentric hole pockets at the $Gamma$ point and two intersecting electron pockets at the $X$ point. These data agree relatively well with the electronic structure calculations. Detailed photon energy dependence measurements using both synchrotron and laser ARPES systems indicate that there is at least one Fermi surface sheet with strong three-dimensionality centered at the $Gamma$ point. Due to the lanthanide contraction, the unit cell of different rare-earth monoantimonides shrinks when changing rare-earth ion from CeSb to LuSb. This results in the differences in the chemical potentials in these compounds, which is demonstrated by both ARPES measurements and electronic structure calculations. Interestingly, in CeSb, the intersecting electron pockets at the $X$ point seem to be touching the valence bands, forming a four-fold degenerate Dirac-like feature. On the other hand, the remaining rare-earth monoantimonides show significant gaps between the upper and lower bands at the $X$ point. Furthermore, similar to the previously reported results of LaBi, a Dirac-like structure was observed at the $Gamma$ point in YSb, CeSb, and GdSb, compounds showing relatively high magnetoresistance. This Dirac-like structure may contribute to the unusually large magnetoresistance in these compounds.
The interplay of charge, spin, orbital and lattice degrees of freedom has recently received great interest due to its potential to improve the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) for the purpose of magnetic cooling applications. Here we propose a new mechanism for a giant inverse MCE in rare-earth tetraborides, especially for Ho1-xDyxB4 (x = 0.0, 0.5, and 1.0). For x = 0.0, 0.5, and 1.0, the maximum entropy changes of the giant inverse MCE are found to be 22.7 J/kgK, 19.6 J/kgK, and 19.0 J/kgK with critical fields of 25 kOe, 40 kOe, and 50 kOe, respectively. It is remarkable that such a giant MCE is realized, even when applying a low magnetic field, which enables a field-tuned entropy change and brings about a significant advantage for several applications. For all compounds, we have systematically studied how the entropy changes as a function of the field and temperature and investigated their correlation with consecutive double transitions, i.e., the magnetic dipolar order at T = TN and the quadrupolar order at T = TQ (TQ < TN). We found that the maximum entropy change occurs at T = TQ and the critical field associated with the meta-magnetic transition, which is in good agreement with the experimental data. Thus, we elucidate that this unique behaviour is attributed to the strong coupling between magnetic dipoles and quadrupoles in the presence of strong spin-orbit coupling and geometric frustration. Our work offers new insights into both the academic interest of multipolar degrees of freedom in magnetic materials and the discovery of giant MCE with various applications for magnetic cooling systems.
The time-differential perturbed-angular-correlation (TDPAC) technique was applied to the study of the internal electric-field gradient (EFG) in Eu- and Ho-sesquioxides in their cubic bixbyite phases. The results, as well as previous characterizations of the EFG at $^{181}$Ta sites in oxides with the bixbyite structure, were compared to those obtained in experiments using $^{111}$Cd as probe, and to point-charge model and {it ab initio} results calculations for the EFG tensor at impurity sites in binary oxides. These studies provide quantitative information about electronic processes and the structural relaxations induced by the presence of impurity probes in the host lattices, and confirm the existence of nonionic contributions to the EFG in these systems. Our FP-LAPW calculations show that this nonionic contribution to the EFG is the dominating one, and that it is originated in the population of {it p} states (5{it p} in the case of Cd, 6{it p} for Ta).
An overview of the recent efforts in point-contact (PC) spectroscopy of the nickel borocarbide superconductors RNi2B2C in the normal and superconducting (SC) state is given. The results of measurements of the PC electron- boson(phonon) interaction spectral function are presented. Phonon maxima and crystalline-electric-field (CEF) excitations are observed in the PC spectra of compounds with R=Dy, Ho, Er and Tm, while for R=Y a dominant phonon maximum around 12 meV is characteristic. Additionally, non-phonon and non-CEF maxima are observed near 3 meV in R=Ho and near 6 meV in R=Dy. Directional PC study of the SC gap gives evidence for the multi-band nature of superconductivity in R=Y, Lu. At low temperature the SC gap in R=Ho exhibits a standard single-band BCS-like dependence, which vanishes above T_c^*= 5.6K< T_c=8.5K, where a specifc magnetic ordering starts to play a role. For R=Tm (T_c=10.5 K) a decrease of the SC gap is observed below 5 K.
Measurements of ferroelectric polarization and dielectric constant were done on $R$Mn$_2$O$_5$ ($R$=Tb, Dy, and Ho) with applied hydrostatic pressures of up to 18 kbar. At ambient pressure, distinctive anomalies were observed in the temperature profile of both physical properties at critical temperatures marking the onset of long range AFM order (T$_{N1}$), ferroelectricity (T$_{C1}$) as well as at temperatures when anomalous changes in the polarization, dielectric constant and spin wave commensurability have been previously reported. In particular, the step in the dielectric constant at low temperatures (T$_{C2}$), associated with both a drop in the ferroelectric polarization and an incommensurate magnetic structure, was shown to be suddenly quenched upon passing an $R$-dependent critical pressure. This was shown to correlate with the stabilization of the high ferroelectric polarization state which is coincident with the commensurate magnetic structure. The observation is suggested to be due to a pressure induced phase transition into a commensurate magnetic structure as exemplified by the pressure-temperature ($p$-$T$) phase diagrams constructed in this work. The $p$-$T$ phase diagrams are determined for all three compounds.