Abstract
Abstract We address the magnetic phases in very thin Ho films at the temperature interval between 20 K and 132 K. We show that slab size, surface effects and magnetic field due to spin ordering impact significantly the magnetic phase diagram. Also we report that there is a relevant reduction of the external field strength required to saturate the magnetization and for ultra-thin films the helical state does not form. We explore the specific heat and the susceptibility as auxiliary tools to discuss the nature of the phase transitions, when in the presence of an external magnetic field and temperature effects. The presence of an external field gives rise to the magnetic phase Fan and the spin-slip structures.
Highlights
The magnetic properties of rare-earth materials were the subject of intensive studies in the sixties years
We concentrate our analysis on the phase diagrams H–T obtained for Holmium bulk and for thin and ultra-thin films composed by n 1⁄424, 10 and 7 monolayers
We have studied the magnetic phases of very thin Ho films in the temperature interval between 20 K and 132 K
Summary
The magnetic properties of rare-earth materials were the subject of intensive studies in the sixties years (for major reviews, see Refs. [1,2] ). The magnetic phases in ultrathin helimagnetic holmium films were recently studied by using of Monte Carlo simulations [11], where the authors have described the system by a Heisenberg model with easy-plane single-ion anisotropy and seven coupling constants (obtained by experimental neutron scattering measurements). They have observed that for the analyzed thicknesses of 8–16 monolayers, it is seen that by increasing the temperature the films show, after the distorted helical configuration, a temperature range where disordered inner planes coexist with surface ones in a block ordered state (spin-slip).
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