Magnetic Properties of the RbNd(WO4)2Single Crystal

Abstract

The rubidium neodymium tungstate RbNd(WO4)2 (RbNdW) is the representative of the family of alkaline (A) and rare earth (Re) double tungstates ARe(WO4)2 (AReW). RbNdW belongs to the monoclinic system with space group C2/c, which is isostructural with α-KY(WO4)2 [1–3]. This crystal is usually grown by high temperature solution method in order to obtain the low temperature monoclinic phase. At present, the AReW tungstates having the low-symmetric (e.g., monoclinic) crystalline structure and the atom arrangements in forms of chains or layers are intensively studied. Structural, optical, and magnetic investigations of the KDyW, KHoW, KErW, KGdW, KYbW, KTmW and RbDyW compounds were performed earlier [1, 4–8]. Many of them show complicated structural phase transitions (SPT), caused by the cooperative Jahn–Teller effect (CJTE), and magnetic phase transitions. Unlike the high symmetry crystals, they are characterized by strong magnetic anisotropy, low local symmetry and low-dimensional magnetic structure, and they exhibit strong spin–lattice coupling [1, 8–10]. The rubidium neodymium double tungstate was also studied, especially its structural and spectroscopic properties [1–3]. In this paper, we show the new results of magnetization measurements for the rubidium neodymium double tungstate RbNd(WO4)2 (RbNdW) single crystal.