Critical behavior and strongly anisotropic interactions in PrMn2Ge2

Abstract

Understanding the mechanisms for forming skyrmionic spin configurations at room temperature is essential for exploring the applicable spintronics devices based on topological spin textures. In this work, the anisotropic magnetic properties and critical behavior are investigated in noncollinear itinerant magnet PrMn2Ge2. The strongly anisotropic magnetic interactions and magnetic field and temperature induced antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic transition are observed. The critical behavior of high temperature ferromagnetic transition at 331 K was analyzed, and the critical exponents β = 0.335, γ = 0.878, and δ = 3.617 are extracted by the modified Arrott plot method, which lie between the values of long-range mean-field and short-range three-dimensional theories, demonstrating that PrMn2Ge2 possesses multiple magnetic interactions. This is also confirmed by the moderated interaction function, which is decay as J(r) ∼ r−4.69. Therefore, the competition of multiple magnetic interactions in PrMn2Ge2 is analogous to what has been observed in GdRu2Si2 and could be the origin of skyrmionic bubbles observed at room temperature.