Couples Magnetic and Structural Transitions in High-Purity Dy and Gd<sub>5</sub>Sb<sub>x</sub>Ge<sub>4-x</sub>

Abstract

Magnetic materials exhibiting magnetic phase transitions simultaneously with structural rearrangements of their crystal lattices hold a promise for numerous applications including magnetic refrigeration, magnetomechanical devices and sensors. We undertook a detailed study of a single crystal of dysprosium metal, which is a classical example of a system where magnetic and crystallographic sublattices can be either coupled or decoupled from one another. Magnetocaloric effect, magnetization, ac magnetic susceptibility, and heat capacity of high purity single crystals of dysprosium have been investigated over broad temperature and magnetic field intervals with the magnetic field vector parallel to either the a- or c-axes of the crystal. Notable differences in the behavior of the physical properties when compared to Dy samples studied in the past have been observed between 110 K and 125 K, and between 178 K and {approx}210 K. A plausible mechanism based on the formation of antiferromagnetic clusters in the impure Dy has been suggested in order to explain the reduction of the magnetocaloric effect in the vicinity of the Neel point. Experimental and theoretical investigations of the influence of commensurability effects on the magnetic phase diagram and the value of the magnetocaloric effect have been conducted. The presence of newly foundmore » anomalies in the physical properties has been considered as evidence of previously unreported states of Dy. The refined magnetic phase diagram of dysprosium with the magnetic field vector parallel to the a-axis of a crystal has been constructed and discussed. The magnetic and crystallographic properties of Gd{sub 5}Sb{sub x}Ge{sub 4-x} pseudo-binary system were studied by x-ray diffraction (at room temperature), heat capacity, ac-magnetic susceptibility, and magnetization in the temperature interval 5-320 K in magnetic fields up to 100 kOe. The magnetic properties of three composition (x = 0.5, 1,2) were examined in detail. The Gd{sub 5}Sb{sub 2}Ge{sub 2} compound that adopts Tm{sub 5}Sb{sub 2}Si{sub 2}-type of structure (space group is Cmca), shows a second order FM-PM transition at 200 K, whereas Gd{sub 5}Sb{sub x}Ge{sub 4-x} compounds for x = 0.5 and x = 1 (Sm{sub 5}Ge{sub 4}-type of structure, space group is Pnma) exhibit first order phase transformations at 45 K and 37 K, respectively.« less