Unusual giant magnetostriction in the ferrimagnet Gd$_{2/3}$Ca$_{1/3}$MnO$_3$

We report an unusual giant linear magnetostrictive effect in the ferrimagnet Gd$_{2/3}$Ca$_{1/3}$MnO$_3$ ($T_{c} approx$80 K). Remarkably, the magnetostriction, negative at high temperature ($T approx T_{c}$), becomes positive below 15 K when the magnetization of the Gd sublattice overcomes the magnetization of the Mn sublattice. A rather simple model where the magnetic energy competes against the elastic energy gives a good account of the observed results and confirms that Gd plays a crucial role in this unusual observation. Unlike previous works in manganites where only striction associated with 3$d$ Mn orbitals is considered, our results show that the lanthanide 4$f$ orbitals related striction can be very important too and it cannot be disregarded.

Direct determination of the crystal field parameters of Dy, Er and Yb impurities in the skutterudite compound CeFe$_{4}$P$_{12}$ by Electron Spin Resonance

Despite extensive research on the skutterudites for the last decade, their electric crystalline field ground state is still a matter of controversy. We show that Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) measurements can determine the full set of crystal field parameters (CFPs) for the Th cubic symmetry (Im3) of the Ce$_{1-x}$R$_{x}$Fe$_{4}$P$_{12}$ (R = Dy, Er, Yb, $xlesssim 0.003$) skutterudite compounds. From the analysis of the ESR data the three CFPs, B4c, B6c and B6t were determined for each of these rare-earths at the Ce$^{3+}$ site. The field and temperature dependence of the measured magnetization for the doped crystals are in excellent agreement with the one predicted by the CFPs Bnm derived from ESR.