Magnetic properties of a pseudo-one-dimensional ferrimagnetic semiconductor Eu3Sb4Se9

Abstract

The resistivity, anisotropic magnetic properties, and magnetic critical behavior of single-crystalline Eu3Sb4Se9 with a pseudo-one-dimensional structure have been studied. The resistivity shows a semiconducting temperature dependence, which gives a bandgap of 0.65 eV. The samples are paramagnetic and isotropic at high temperatures and undergo a transition at Tc = 5.1 K into a ferrimagnetic phase. The long crystal dimension, the crystalline b axis, is the easy axis. Below Tc, the samples have a further metamagnetic transition from the ferrimagnetic to ferromagnetic state when the field is along the easy axis. The low-field magnetization around Tc cannot be described by the mean-field theory for a second-order phase transition, but can be well fitted by the modified Arrott plot, which gives a set of critical exponents β = 0.82, γ = 1.08, and δ = 2.35. The magnetic phase diagram for the field applied parallel to the easy axis is finally established.