Abstract
ErMn6Ge6 adopts the HfFe6Ge6-type structure and orders antiferromagnetically below TN = 475 K. At Tt = 80 K it undergoes a first-order spin reorientation transition. Neutron powder diffraction has shown that the low temperature phase is a triple skewed spiral with wave vector q1 = (0, 0, qz), consisting of three ferromagnetic Er and Mn layers Mn(z = −14)-Er(z = 0)-Mn(z = 14) with the Er moments orientated opposite to the line bisecting the MnMn interplanar angle 2ϕMn = 70 deg. The spiral axis makes a non-zero angle with q1. The wavevector length is incommensurate with the crystal lattice and weakly temperature dependent. Below 70 K, qz locks in to the commensurate value 14. Above Tt = 80 K a decoupling of the Mn and Er sublattices sets in, and the skewed spiral structure is destabilized. In the transition region 80–160 K the magnetic ordering is described as a superposition of two Fourier coefficients per atom, associated with the wave vectors q1 = (0, 0, qz) and q2 = (0, 0, 1/2). The H ± q1 satellites (skewed spiral) comprise Er as well as Mn intensity contributions, while only the Mn antiferromagnetic ordering along c contributes to the H + q2 satellites. Above 170 K one observes exclusively H + q2 Mn intensity contributions.
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