No abstract

In this paper, we attempt to understand the cause of magnetostructural transformation in Mnbased antiperovskites by calculating EXAFS at the K edges of constituent metal atoms in three antiperovskite compounds, Mn 3 GaC, Mn 3 SnC and Mn 3 InC. These three compounds have very different magnetic ground states despite the similar cubic structure. Our calculations show that the distortions of Mn 6 C octahedra, which are responsible for the first-order magnetic transition to antiferromagnetic state, depends on the packing fraction of the lattice.