Metastability across the antiferromagnetic–ferromagnetic intermediate phase transition and enhanced giant magnetoresistance in Zn-doped antiperovskite compounds Ga1−xZnxCMn3

Abstract

We report the detailed investigations of the magnetic properties, electronic transport, and specific heat in Zn-doped antiperovskite compounds Ga1−xZnxCMn3. Magnetic measurements indicate the metastability of the antiferromagnetic (AFM)–ferromagnetic intermediate (FI) phase transition and the coexistence of different magnetic phases at lower temperature. The enhanced giant magnetoresistance (GMR) is observed with a maximum value of 70% spanning a temperature range of 100 K at 50 kOe. The analysis of heat capacity reveals that the metastability of the AFM–FI transition and the enhanced GMR observed in Ga1−xZnxCMn3 may originate from the reconstruction of Fermi surface accompanying AFM–FI transition.