Anisotropic Magnetic Properties of Nonsymmorphic Semimetallic Single Crystal NdSbTe

Abstract

The crystal structure and magnetic, electronic, and thermal properties of a NdSbTe single crystal were examined by X-ray diffraction, magnetic and specific heat C p (T) measurements, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. NdSbTe undergoes an antiferromagnetic ordering at T N ≈ 2.9 K, which is obviously shown from χ(T) and C p (T). With increasing H, a spinflop transition is induced along the c axis, and subsequently AFM disappeared at H ≤ 0.4 T and H ≤ 2.5 T along H||c and H||ab, respectively. This remarkable observation shows that the ordered Nd 3+ moments lie in the c axis and that there is the existence of an anisotropy scenario. The estimated magnetic anisotropy with χ ||c (0.63)/χ ||ab (0.036) is 17.5 at temperature 1.8 K. An analysis of specific heat capacity reveals the significant contribution of crystal field effects at high temperature. We carried out DFT calculations to predict the magnetic ground state and the electronic properties of NdSbTe. Our calculations revealed that the magnetic ground state is AFM with spins aligned ferromagnetically along the b axis and antiferromagnetically along the c axis. The calculated electronic band of NdSbTe exhibits a Dirac semimetal material nature.

Magnetic Topological Semimetal Phase with Electronic Correlation Enhancement in SmSbTe

“…This implies a possible metamagnetic transition which has also been observed in other magnetic LnSbTe materials such as CeSbTe, NdSbTe, HoSbTe, and GdSbTe. [ 25,26,39,40,42,43,51 ] On the other hand, under an in‐plane magnetic field ( H ∥ ab ) configuration, a linear M ( H ) is observed for up to 9 T (the highest field of our instrument). Generally, in AFM systems, a large exchange interaction is expected for linear M ( H ) without polarization up to high field, which appears inconsistent with the low T N measured in SmSbTe.…”

Heavy-Atom Antiferromagnet GdBiTe: An Interplay of Magnetism and Topology in a Symmetry-Protected Topological Semimetal

“…In GdBiTe, the c / a ratio is 2.11 and the z A2 /(1 – z B ) value is 0.875, so it belongs to the same type. Previously reported Ln SbTe compounds ( Ln = La, Pr, Ce, Gd, Nd, Ho) − also belong to the ZrSiS-type. There is a broad variety of compounds that can be regarded as superstructures of the ZrSiS aristotype.…”

“…A Curie–Weiss fit in the paramagnetic region for T > 100 K gives an estimated effective magnetic moment of 8.2(3) μ B , which is in agreement with the calculated magnetic moment of 7.94 μ B expected for Gd­(III). GdBiTe has the so far highest critical temperature among isostructural Ln XTe ( Ln = Ce, Pr, Nd, Gd, Ho; X = Sb, Te), − many of which establish an antiferromagnetic long-range order at ca. 2–4 K.…”

“…As discussed in the introduction, ZrSiS , and isostructural Ln SbTe − received increased attention as topological semimetals. It is compelling to explore what GdBiTe and LaBiTe bring into this landscape.…”

“…Our efforts were rewarded by an unexpected outcome. Instead of GdBiTe 3 , we have discovered a new ternary compound GdBiTe that is isostructural to the archetypical nodal-line topological semimetal ZrSiS , and to its rare-earth-metal counterparts Ln SbTe without ( Ln = La − ) and with magnetic ordering ( Ln = Gd, − Ce, , Pr, Nd, , Ho , ) that are nowadays intensely discussed in the context of magnetic topological semimetals (MTSs).…”