Characterization of magnetic phase transitions in PrMn2Ge2 compound investigated by magnetization and hyperfine field measurements

B Bosch-Santos,A W Carbonari,R N Saxena,R S Freitas,G A Cabrera-Pasca

doi:10.1063/1.4974025

Abstract

The magnetic properties of PrMn2Ge2 compound have been investigated by perturbed γ−γ angular correlation (PAC) spectroscopy using 111In(111Cd) as probe nuclei as well as by magnetization measurements. This ternary intermetallic compound exhibits different magnetic structures depending on the temperature. The magnetic ordering is mainly associated with the magnetic moment of 3d-Mn sublattice but at low temperatures a magnetic contribution due to ordering of the magnetic moment from 4f-Pr sublattice appears. PAC results with 111Cd probe nuclei at Mn sites show that the temperature dependence of hyperfine field Bhf(T) follows the expected behavior for the host magnetization, which could be fitted by two Brillouin functions, one for antiferromagnetic phase and the other for ferromagnetic phase, associated with the magnetic ordering of Mn ions. Magnetization measurements showed the magnetic behavior due to Mn ions highlighting the antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic transition around 326 K and an increase in the magnetization around 36 K, which is ascribed to Pr ions ordering.

Highlights

Intermetallic compounds in the REMn2Ge2 family, where RE is a rare-earth element, have been studied by various techniques, such as neutron diffraction, magnetization, Mossbauer spectroscopy and resistivity measurements, in order to investigate their magnetic properties
REMn2Ge2 compounds crystallize in the prototype structure of ThCr2Si2 with I4/mmm space group[3] where the RE, Mn and Ge atoms are stacked along the c-axis in the layered sequence RE-Ge-Mn-Ge-RE
In this work we have investigated the magnetic behavior of intermetallic compound PrMn2Ge2 using magnetization measurements and measurements of the magnetic hyperfine field (Bhf ) using the perturbed γ−γ angular correlation (PAC) spectroscopy

Summary

Introduction

Intermetallic compounds in the REMn2Ge2 family, where RE is a rare-earth element, have been studied by various techniques, such as neutron diffraction, magnetization, Mossbauer spectroscopy and resistivity measurements, in order to investigate their magnetic properties. These studies have shown multiple magnetic transitions in these compounds mainly due to Mn sublattice. They are well known to exhibit transitions from antiferromagnetic (AFM) to ferromagnetic (FM) ordering near room temperature.[1,2] some compounds of this family have been reported to show magnetic ordering due to RE sublattice.

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Conclusion