Journal article
The magnetic phases of NdCu2
The magnetic phase diagram of a NdCu2 single crystal is investigated by means of specific-heat measurements and neutron diffraction as a function of temperature and external magnetic field applied along the crystallographic b-direction. In the low temperature region we observe three commensurate phases AF1, F1, and F2.
Their magnetic structures all consist of ferromagnetic (bc)-planes with different stacking sequences along the a-direction comprising 5, 3 and 8 chemical unit cells, respectively. Above 2.8 T the system is in a ferromagnetically aligned state (F3). Furthermore, there is an incommensurate phase AF3 between the low temperature commensurate phases and the paramagnetic state and, in a very narrow temperature region of only 0.2 K, an intermediate phase AF2 between AF1 and AF3.
The Nd-moments are oriented along the b-direction in all phases.
| Language: | English |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Springer-Verlag |
| Year: | 1996 |
| Pages: | 499-510 |
| ISSN: | 1431584x and 07223277 |
| Types: | Journal article |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s002570050238 |
