Abstract
Magnetic properties of a tetragonal intermetallic compound GdFe${}_{5}$Al${}_{7}$ have been studied on a single crystal in static magnetic fields up to 14 T. The system is a ferrimagnet (${T}_{\mathrm{C}}$ $=$ 265 K) and on this premises we succeeded in describing its low-temperature magnetization curves as well as the temperature dependence of the spontaneous magnetization. The compound is interesting in two ways: (i) the iron sublattice is diluted so heavily that it is close to the stability limit and cannot be regarded as saturated, (ii) at low temperatures the system is in a state of near compensation, that is, the sublattice moments, albeit distinct, are close in magnitude. The latter has several consequences. (i) The net spontaneous magnetization is small, ${M}_{\mathrm{s}}$ $=$ 0.58 ${\ensuremath{\mu}}_{\mathrm{B}}$/f.u. at $T$ $=$ 2 K. (ii) The system is in the strong-anisotropy regime despite the weakness of its anisotropy (attributed entirely to the iron sublattice) in energy terms. (iii) A moderate field (\ensuremath{\sim}7 T) applied in the easy direction [110] suffices to induce a phase transition into a noncollinear magnetic state.
Published Version
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