No Arabic abstract
Single crystals of RPtIn, $R~=$ Y, Gd - Lu were grown out of In-rich ternary solution. Powder X-ray diffraction data on all of these compounds were consistent with the hexagonal ZrNiAl-type structure (space group P $bar{6}$ 2 m). The $R~=$ Tb and Tm members of the series appear to order antiferromagnetically ($T_N~=$ 46.0 K, and 3.0 K respectively), whereas the $R~=$ Gd, Dy - Er compounds have at least a ferromagnetic component of the magnetization along the c-axis. The magnetic ordering temperatures of all of these systems seem to scale well with the de Gennes factor dG, whereas the curious switching from ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic ordering across the series is correlated with a change in anisotropy, such that, in the low temperature paramagnetic state, $chi_{ab} > chi_c$ for the antiferromagnetic compounds, and $chi_c > chi_{ab}$ for the rest. In order to characterize the magnetic ordering across the RPtIn series, a three-dimensional model of the magnetic moments in Fe$_2$P-type systems was developed, using the textit{three co-planar Ising-like systems model} previously introduced for the extremely planar TbPtIn compound: given the orthorhombic point symmetry of the R sites, we assumed the magnetic moments to be confined to six non-planar easy axes, whose in-plane projections are rotate by $60^0$ with respect to each other. Such a model is consistent with the reduced high-field magnetization values observed for the RPtIn compounds, R$~=$ Tb - Tm, and qualitatively reproduces the features of the angular dependent magnetization of Ho$_x$Y$_{1-x}$PtIn at $H~=$ 55 kG.
We have synthesized R5Pb3 (R = Gd-Tm) compounds in polycrystalline form and performed structural analysis, magnetization, and neutron scattering measurements. For all R5Pb3 reported here the Weiss temperatures {theta}W are several times smaller than the ordering temperatures TORD, while the latter are remarkably high (TORD up to 275 K for R = Gd) compared to other known R-M binaries (M = Si, Ge, Sn and Sb). The magnetic order changes from ferromagnetic in R = Gd, Tb to antiferromagnetic in R = Dy-Tm. Below TORD, the magnetization measurements together with neutron powder diffraction show complex magnetic behavior and reveal the existence of up to three additional phase transitions. We believe this to be a result of crystal electric field effects responsible for high magnetocrystalline anisotropy. The R5Pb3 magnetic unit cells for R = Tb-Tm can be described with incommensurate magnetic wave vectors with spin modulation either along the c axis in R = Tb, Er and Tm or within the ab-plane in R = Dy and Ho.
Single crystals of $R$Mg$_{2}$Cu$_{9}$ ($R$=Y, Ce-Nd, Gd-Dy, Yb) were grown using a high-temperature solution growth technique and were characterized by measurements of room-temperature x-ray diffraction, temperature-dependent specific heat and temperature-, field-dependent resistivity and anisotropic magnetization. YMg$_{2}$Cu$_{9}$ is a non-local-moment-bearing metal with an electronic specific heat coefficient, $gamma sim$ 15 mJ/mol K$^2$. Yb is divalent and basically non-moment bearing in YbMg$_{2}$Cu$_{9}$. Ce is trivalent in CeMg$_{2}$Cu$_{9}$ with two magnetic transitions being observed at 2.1 K and 1.5 K. PrMg$_{2}$Cu$_{9}$ does not exhibit any magnetic phase transition down to 0.5 K. The other members being studied ($R$=Nd, Gd-Dy) all exhibits antiferromagnetic transitions at low-temperatures ranging from 3.2 K for NdMg$_{2}$Cu$_{9}$ to 11.9 K for TbMg$_{2}$Cu$_{9}$. Whereas GdMg$_{2}$Cu$_{9}$ is isotropic in its paramagnetic state due to zero angular momentum ($L$=0), all the other local-moment-bearing members manifest an anisotropic, planar magnetization in their paramagnetic states. To further study this planar anisotropy, detailed angular-dependent magnetization was carried out on magnetically diluted (Y$_{0.99}$Tb$_{0.01}$)Mg$_{2}$Cu$_{9}$ and (Y$_{0.99}$Dy$_{0.01}$)Mg$_{2}$Cu$_{9}$. Despite the strong, planar magnetization anisotropy, the in-plane magnetic anisotropy is weak and field-dependent. A set of crystal electric field parameters are proposed to explain the observed magnetic anisotropy.
We present a detailed characterization of the recently discovered i-$R$-Cd ($R$ = Y, Gd-Tm) binary quasicrystals by means of x-ray diffraction, temperature-dependent dc and ac magnetization, temperature-dependent resistance and temperature-dependent specific heat measurements. Structurally, the broadening of x-ray diffraction peaks found for i-$R$-Cd is dominated by frozen-in phason strain, which is essentially independent of $R$. i-Y-Cd is weakly diamagnetic and manifests a temperature-independent susceptibility. i-Gd-Cd can be characterized as a spin-glass below 4.6 K via dc magnetization cusp, a third order non-linear magnetic susceptibility peak, a frequency-dependent freezing temperature and a broad maximum in the specific heat. i-$R$-Cd ($R$ = Ho-Tm) is similar to i-Gd-Cd in terms of features observed in thermodynamic measurements. i-Tb-Cd and i-Dy-Cd do not show a clear cusp in their zero-field-cooled dc magnetization data, but instead show a more rounded, broad local maximum. The resistivity for i-$R$-Cd is of order 300 $mu Omega$ cm and weakly temperature-dependent. The characteristic freezing temperatures for i-$R$-Cd ($R$ = Gd-Tm) deviate from the de Gennes scaling, in a manner consistent with crystal electric field splitting induced local moment anisotropy.
We analyze theoretically a common experimental process used to obtain the magnetic contribution to the specific heat of a given magnetic material. In the procedure, the specific heat of a non-magnetic analog is measured and used to subtract the non-magnetic contributions, which are generally dominated by the lattice degrees of freedom in a wide range of temperatures. We calculate the lattice contribution to the specific heat for the magnetic compounds GdMIn$_5$ (M = Co, Rh) and for the non-magnetic YMIn$_5$ and LaMIn$_5$ (M = Co, Rh), using density functional theory based methods. We find that the best non-magnetic analog for the subtraction depends on the magnetic material and on the range of temperatures. While the phonon specific heat contribution of YRhIn$_5$ is an excellent approximation to the one of GdCoIn$_5$ in the full temperature range, for GdRhIn$_5$ we find a better agreement with LaCoIn$_5$, in both cases, as a result of an optimum compensation effect between masses and volumes. We present measurements of the specific heat of the compounds GdMIn$_5$ (M = Co, Rh) up to room temperature where it surpasses the value expected from the Dulong-Petit law. We obtain a good agreement between theory and experiment when we include anharmonic effects in the calculations.
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.