The effect of pressure on the curie temperature and resistivity of some rare-earth metals and heusler alloys

Abstract

Abstract Measurements have been made of the effect of pressure, up to S kB, on the Curie point (Tc) of several Gd-Lu, Gd-Y alloys and Heusler alloys with the composition Ni2MnZ and Pd2MnZ (Z = In, Sn, Sb), and AusMnAl. The pressure dependence of the spin-disorder resistivity (ρmag.) in single-crystal Gd, Dy and polycrystalline Pd2MnSb has been measured up to 12 kB. The results are discussed in terms of the Ruderman-Kittel coupling mechanism. In the Gd alloys ∂ log Tc/∂P remains constant in agreement with simple predictions based on the indirect coupling formula. In the Ni and Pd series this coefficient is very small for the Sb alloys. The pressure data on Tc and ρmag. have been used to estimate the volume dependence of the conduction electron-ion interaction and effective mass.