Spin glass and ferromagnetism in disordered cerium compounds

Abstract

The competition between spin glass, ferromagnetism and Kondo effect is analyzed here in a Kondo lattice model with an intersite random coupling ${J}_{ij}$ between the localized magnetic moments given by a generalization of the Mattis model [D. J. Mattis, Phys. Lett. 56A, 421 (1977)], which represents an interpolation between ferromagnetism and a highly disordered spin glass. Functional integral techniques with Grassmann fields have been used to obtain the partition function. The static approximation and the replica symmetric ansatz have also been used. The solution of the problem is presented as a phase diagram giving $T∕J$ vs ${J}_{K}∕J$, where $T$ is the temperature, ${J}_{K}$ and $J$ are the strengths of the intrasite Kondo and the intersite random couplings, respectively. If ${J}_{K}∕J$ is small, when temperature is decreased, there is a second-order transition from a paramagnetic to a spin glass phase. For lower $T∕J$, a first-order transition appears between the spin glass phase and a region where there are Mattis states which are thermodynamically equivalent to the ferromagnetism. For very low $T∕J$, the Mattis states become stable. On the other hand, it is found as solution a Kondo state for large ${J}_{K}∕J$ values. These results can improve the theoretical description of the well-known experimental phase diagram of ${\mathrm{CeNi}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Cu}}_{x}$.