Metamagnetism of DyPd2Si2Single Crystal

Abstract

Magnetic characteristics of a DyPd2Si2 single crystal with the ThCr2Si2-type structure have been studied from measurements of magnetic susceptibility (T) and magnetization M(B). It was found that DyPd2Si2 orders antiferromagnetically below TN = 9.2 K with the basal-plane [100] axis being the easy magnetization direction at high magnetic fields. Upon increasing magnetic field, the [100] magnetization curve exhibits at least six metamagnetic transitions at 0.2, 1.8, 3.0, 3.7, 4.2 and 6.1 T before reaching the saturation magnetization Ms = 10 B. Five metamagnetic transitions were detected on decreasing fields. For the [110] magnetization process, three metamagnetic transitions were evidenced. In contrast, the M(B) curve along the [001] axis, which is the hard magnetization direction, displays no metamagnetic transition; it shows a monotonous increase with a concave curvature up to 18 T. Finally, we constructed a comprehensive B100-T magnetic phase diagram consisting of six magnetic ordered phases.