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Orthorhombic Ba3Cu2O4Cl2 contains folded Cu2O4 chains along the crystallographic a direction with two different Cu sites. In single crystals of this compound the magnetization measured for a field applied parallel to the a axis shows a spin-flop transition at a threshold field of 2.6 T for temperatures below TN≈20 K. Above TN a Curie–Weiss behavior is found with a paramagnetic moment of 2.0 μB per Cu atom. Parallel to the b or c axis the magnetization increases linearly with the field strength, and no metamagnetic transition was detected for these directions. It is concluded that Ba3Cu2O4Cl2 has localized magnetic moments which, at low temperatures, order antiferromagnetically parallel to the a axis. The bulklike magnetic behavior of this compound is probably caused by a strong coupling between the Cu2O4 chains. Tetragonal Ba2Cu3O4Cl2 is built up of Cu3O4 planes, also with two types of copper atoms (CuA,CuB). Its magnetization increases nearly linearly with the field. Below TNA=337 K single-crystalline Ba2Cu3O4Cl2 shows a spontaneous magnetization and ferromagnetic hysteresis for fields applied parallel to the tetragonal [100] or [110] directions. For T<TNB≈33 K, the coercive field is more than one order of magnitude larger compared to that measured in the temperature range TNB<T<TNA. The spontaneous magnetization observed in TNB<T<TNA may be attributed to weak ferromagnetism of the Dzyaloshinsky–Moriya type. The behavior of Ba2Cu3O4Cl2 at lower temperatures, T⩽TNB, is not yet understood.

Polycrystalline bulk samples of the layered manganites La2−2xSr1+2xMn2O7 showing a colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) effect were prepared for doping levels of x=0.4 and 0.5 by a solid-state reaction route. Temperature and field dependences of magnetization and of electrical resistivity have been measured between 5 K and room temperature. Ferromagnetic behavior with a Curie temperature of TC=135 K and a high value of spontaneous magnetization (64 emu g−1) was found for x=0.4. The x=0.5 compound orders antiferromagnetically near TN=215 K, showing a resistivity enhancement there. The resistivity of the x=0.4 compound shows a field dependence at low temperatures similar to that found for polycrystalline La0.7Sr0.3MnO3. The resemblance includes the presence of both a low-field and a high-field contribution to the magnetoresistance, as well as the magnitude of the low-field MR (−23% at 20 K and −15% at 77 K for H=1 kOe). The low-field MR is attributed to the effect of grain boundaries. In contrast to the grain-boundary MR of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3, it was also observed at temperatures far above the TC of the layered manganite.