Abstract
Early studies made on Tm-Tb alloys found a complex phase diagram for the system. Because of the orthogonal anisotropies involved which lead to the Tb moments lying in the basal plane and the Tm moments along the c-axis, the Tm-Tb system is particularly well suited to address the problem of the competing crystal-field and exchange anisotropies in the heavy rare-earth metals. Neutron-diffraction studies were made on a number of alloys at the HMI, the ILL and ISIS. Careful continuous measurement of the diffraction patterns over the experimental temperature range, 2 K < T < 300 K, has enabled us to complete the phase diagram for the system, especially important at the Tm-rich end, and determine the lattice parameters. From the magnetic peaks we have deduced the modulation wave vectors at various temperatures. The results have been correlated with the effective exchange and Stevens' factors for the alloys.
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