Abstract
We have investigated the magnetic structure of the fcc antiferromagnet by magnetization and specific heat measurements on small single crystals prepared from natural elements and by neutron diffraction on isotopically enriched powder samples. Magnetization measurements up to show up to three magnetic phases in the vs phase diagram, depending on the orientation of the applied field. The specific heat in zero field exhibits a very steep increase at , but its maximum is reached only at a lower temperature. In applied magnetic field up to additional -like anomalies are observed which confirm the phase boundaries from the magnetization measurements. Powder neutron diffraction in zero magnetic field reveals an antiferromagnetic structure below . The basic reflections can be indexed with , where , pointing to an incommensurate magnetic structure. In a field below (in the lowest-field magnetic phase) the principal reflections remain; in a higher magnetic field they become suppressed. Moreover, the magnetic background strongly decreases with applied field. The analysis of results shows that an amplitude-modulated, incommensurate structure likely represents the magnetic order of . The very complex phase diagram of this compound can arise from the interplay between the RKKY and dipole-dipole interaction and/or from frustration effects in the fcc-symmetry lattice.
3 More- Received 5 November 2003
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.70.224416
©2004 American Physical Society