Analysis of metamagnetic transitions in antiferromagnetic arrangements in the RRhIn5 (R[dbnd]Nd, Tb, Dy, and Ho) series using a four sublattice model

Abstract

The RRhIn5 (RNd, Tb, Dy, and Ho) series of compounds crystallizes in the Ho2CoGa8 tetragonal type-structure, with P4/mmm space group. A Hamiltonian model of four magnetic sublattices is used to reproduce the metamagnetic transitions of these series, considering the crystalline electric field interaction and the exchange interaction in the molecular field approximation. The crystalline electric field parameters were extracted from literature sources, while the exchange parameters were adjusted to optimize the agreement between the proposed model and the experimental data. The four sublattice model presented here successfully describes the metamagnetic transitions that appeared, at the low magnetic fields, in the RRhIn5 (RNd, Tb, Dy, and Ho) series, in contrast to other molecular field model found in the literature that inadequately reproduces these transitions.