Anisotropic magnetism inPrCrSb3: Bulk properties of single crystals

Abstract

We report anisotropic dc magnetic susceptibility ͑T͒, isothermal magnetization M͑H͒, electrical resistivity ͑T͒, and heat capacity C͑T͒ measurements on a single crystalline sample of PrCrSb 3 . The crystal exhibits ferromagnetic ordering below T C = 112 K due to ordering of Cr spins. The ferromagnetic phase is highly anisotropic. The anisotropy becomes even more evident at low temperatures at which the rare-earth ion gets magnetically ordered. Pr moments antiferromagnetically order at T N = 12 K. The magnetic interplay between these two species ͑Cr 3+ and Pr 3+ ions͒ gives PrCrSb 3 a complex magnetic phase diagram.

Anisotropic magnetism in NdCrSb3

“…At higher fields, the value χ reduces significantly due to the interaction between Nd and Cr moments. Similar behavior has also been observed in PrCrSb 3 [13] though Pr 3+ moments order antiferromagnetically in that compound. An analogous temperature dependence at 0.01, 0.1 and 1 T is also observed along the a axis as shown by the figure 3.…”

“…The temperature dependence of the heat capacity C P (T ) of NdCrSb 3 between 6 and 200 K is shown in the main panel of figure 6. Unlike LaCrSb 3 [7], we see a well defined anomaly in the heat capacity data of NdCrSb 3 at T C = 100 K (shown in the inset (a)) though is considerably weaker than those observed in CeCrSb 3 [14] and PrCrSb 3 [13]. The anomaly at T C gets smeared with the application of 1 T of field (not shown).…”

“…This gives a different signature of χ(T ) along all three axes. It is important to realize that although Cr orders ferromagnetically in all RCrSb 3 compounds, the nature of the magnetism exhibited by magnetic rare earth spins are different starting from the inhomogeneous ferromagnetism of Ce spins in CeCrSb 3 [11,14], the antiferromagnetism of Pr spins in PrCrSb 3 [13] with a gap in the spin excitation spectrum and the ferromagnetic ordering of Nd spins in NdCrSb 3 (described in the present work and also in [12]). However, in NdCrSb 3 (unlike CeCrSb 3 [10,14]) we see a sharp magnetic ordering due to the moments of Nd at 10 K. The easy axis for magnetization for the FM ordering is along the a axis and shifts to b at higher field.…”

Anisotropic magnetism in PrCrSb3 and NdCrSb3

“…Since the sample is in ferrimagnetic state down to lowest temperature we belive we can use this expression to analyse our data below T N . The parameters obtained from the fit for a (T) are 0 = 680 cm, a = 0.03 cm/K 2 , b = 6.2 cm/K 2 and = 64 K. Whereas the fit parameters for b (T) are 0 = 70 cm, a = 0.011 cm/K 2 , b = 1.23 cm/K 2 and = 64.5 K [5]. The important thing to note here is the value of obtained for both the axes in almost same.…”