Magnetic-field-induced first-order transitions in the intermetallic compound Pr 2Fe 17

Abstract

The singular point detection (SPD) technique has been used to measure in a pulsed-field apparatus ( H max=300 kOe) the temperature dependence of the anisotropy and the critical field of different first-order transitions (FOMP), which are induced by the applied magnetic field in the intermetallic compound Pr 2Fe 17. This compound exhibits complex behaviour of the magnetic anisotropy: with decreasing temperature, subsequently, a normal approach to saturation, a type-I FOMP and a double transition are found in different temperature intervals. By performing computer simulations of the magnetisation processes, it has been found that the observed complex phenomenology in Pr 2Fe 17 can be explained if the occurrence of canting angles between magnetic sublattices having competing anisotropies is taken into account.