Magnetic phase transitions in NdCu 2 under pressure

Abstract

The electrical resistivity on a NdCu 2 single crystal was measured as a function of temperature, hydrostatic pressure and magnetic field. At ambient pressure, a complex phase diagram with T N=5.86 K and two spin reorientation temperatures of T R1=3.78 K and T R2=3.25 K is found. Under external pressure, T N, T R1 and T R2 decrease by increasing pressure, and T R2 vanishes under 9 kbar. In the field dependence of the magnetoresistance, we find anomalies at three metamagnetic transitions, which under pressure are initially shifted to lower values but increase again for pressures beyond 5 kbar.