The anion and cation effects in the magnetic anisotropy of rare-earth compounds: Charge screening by conduction electrons

Abstract

The formation of magnetic anisotropy (MA) in rare-earth compounds with transition metals has been analyzed. The screening of the charges creating the crystal field by conduction electrons has been shown to play an important role. The calculations took into account the Friedel charge-density oscillations. The model used for RCo5 is the point-charge crystal field including nonuniform screening by conduction electrons with an anisotropic Fermi surface. The mechanisms of strong MA due to light-element impurities (hydrogen and nitrogen) are considered. The effective charge of an impurity can heavily depend on its ionic radius and the characteristics of the Fermi surface (in particular, on the Fermi momentum kF) of the screening electrons. The screening of the cation and anion charge in hydrides and nitrides based on the R2Fe17 and RFe11Ti intermetallic compounds is discussed.