Anisotropic and mutable magnetization in Kondo lattice CeSb2**Project supported by the Science Challenge Project (Grant No. TZ2016004), the Dean Foundation of China Academy of Engineering Physics (Grant No. 201501040), and the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2015CB921303).

Abstract

We have systematically studied the behaviors of the resistivity and magnetization of CeSb2 single crystals as a function of temperature and external field. Four anomalies in the resistivity/magnetization-versus-temperature curves are observed at low magnetic field. They are located at 15.5 K, 11.5 K, 9.5 K, and 6.5 K, corresponding to the paramagnetic–magnetically ordered state (MO), MO-antiferromagnetic (AFM), AFM–AFM, and AFM–ferromagnetic (FM) transitions, respectively. The anomaly at 9.5 K is only visible with H || [010] by magnetic susceptibility measurements, indicating that the AFM–AFM transition only happens along [010] direction in ab-plane. The four magnetic transitions are strongly suppressed by high external field. Finally, the field-temperature phase diagrams of CeSb2 with different orientations of the applied field in ab-plane are constructed and indicate the highly anisotropic nature of the magnetization of CeSb2.