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Tuneable Magnetic Phase Transitions in Layered CeMn2Ge(2-x)Six Compounds

Md Din MF 1 , Wang JL 2 , Cheng ZX 3 , Dou SX 3 , Kennedy SJ 4 , Avdeev M 4 Show all authors , Campbell SJ 5

Affiliations 

  • 1 1] Institute for Superconductivity and Electronic Materials, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia [2] Department of Electrical &Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, National Defence University of Malaysia, Kem Sungai Besi, 57000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 2 1] Institute for Superconductivity and Electronic Materials, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia [2] Bragg Institute, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization, Lucas Heights, NSW 2234, Australia
  • 3 Institute for Superconductivity and Electronic Materials, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
  • 4 Bragg Institute, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization, Lucas Heights, NSW 2234, Australia
  • 5 School of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
Sci Rep, 2015 Jun 19;5:11288.
PMID: 26090940 DOI: 10.1038/srep11288

Abstract

The structural and magnetic properties of seven CeMn2Ge(2-x)Six compounds with x = 0.0-2.0 have been investigated in detail. Substitution of Ge with Si leads to a monotonic decrease of both a and c along with concomitant contraction of the unit cell volume and significant modifications of the magnetic states - a crossover from ferromagnetism at room temperature for Ge-rich compounds to antiferromagnetism for Si-rich compounds. The magnetic phase diagram has been constructed over the full range of CeMn2Ge(2-x)Six compositions and co-existence of ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism has been observed in CeMn2Ge1.2Si0.8, CeMn2Ge1.0Si1.0 and CeMn2Ge0.8Si1.2 with novel insight provided by high resolution neutron and X-ray synchrotron radiation studies. CeMn2Ge(2-x)Six compounds (x = 0, 0.4 and 0.8) exhibit moderate isothermal magnetic entropy accompanied with a second-order phase transition around room temperature. Analysis of critical behaviour in the vicinity of TC(inter) for CeMn2Ge2 compound indicates behaviour consistent with three-dimensional Heisenberg model predictions.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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