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Effect of Mn on the magnetic and electrical properties of Ho0.85Tb0.15Fe2..

J. Arout Chelvane1, G. Markandeyulu1, N. Harish Kumar1, R. Nirmala2 and S. Malik2
1. Physics, Indian Institute of Technology, CHENNAI, India; 2. CMP & MS, Tata Institute of
Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India
Introduction and Experimental details
The magnetic properties of C15 type RT2 (R - Rare earth, T - 3d Transition metal) cubic Laves
phase compounds are of considerable interest due to the localized 4f electrons and itinerant 3d electrons [1]. In these compounds, Fe has an intrinsic magnetic moment, Co has an induced moment
due to the rare earth moments and Ni carries zero moment. It has been reported that in the RMn2
compounds, the magnetic character of Mn atom depends on the Mn-Mn nearest neighbor distances dMn-Mn. An antiferromagnetic ground state has been found for Mn in compounds with dMnMn greater than 2.66 . For the alloys with dMn-Mn greater than the critical value the Mn moment
evolves from a spin fluctuating state at high temperatures to an intrinsic localized moment as the
temperature is lowered [2]. Further, the R(Mn,Fe)2 systems are found to exhibit large magnetoresistance because of spin fluctuations and recently a large negative magnetoresistance of 27 % has
been reported in Ho0.85Tb0.15Mn2 [3,4]. In the present article, we report the effect of Mn substitution for Fe on the temperature dependence of magnetization, AC magnetic susceptibility and electrical resistivity of Ho0.85Tb0.15Fe2.
The compounds were prepared by arc melting the constituent elements in an arc furnace and the
alloys were homogenized in vacuum at 1170 K for a week. Structural characterization was carried
out by powder X-ray diffraction studies. Magnetization measurements were carried out using a
SQUID magnetometer. AC susceptibility and electrical resistivity measurements were carried using
a physical property measurement system.
Results and Discussions
The compounds Ho0.85Tb0.15Fe(2-x)Mnx [x = 0-2] form in single phase with cubic Laves phase structure and the lattice parameter increases with the addition of Mn. The Curie temperature decreases
with increasing Mn content due to the reduction in the exchange splitting between the spin up and
spin down bands. The magnetization value (at H = 70 kOe) at 5 K is found to increase with increasing Mn concentration. Since the nearest (Mn/Fe)(Mn/Fe) distances are less than or very close to
the critical distance, the Mn atoms do not carry any magnetic moment. Hence the increase in the
Mn concentration dilutes the magnetic moment of the transition metal sublattice. Since Ho and Tb
are heavier rare-earths, the dominating rare-earth moments and the Fe moments are antiparallel.
Cubic Laves phase compounds show several spin reorientation transitions [SRT] as the material is
cooled below their Curie temperature [5,6]. Generally, the change in the easy direction of magnetization is from [111] direction to [110] and then to [100] direction as the temperature is lowered.
The dc magnetization [at H = 5 kOe]and the ac susceptibility [real part ] measurements carried
out on x = 0.5 and x = 1 in the temperature range 5 300 K are shown in Fig. 1. For x = 0.5, dc
magnetization measurements show transitions around 150 K, 60 K and 40 K and ac susceptibility
measurements show SRT at 205 K, 175 K, 80 K and 50 K. In anisotropy compensated
Dy0.73Tb0.27Fe(2-x)Nix, Ho0.85Tb0.15Fe(2-x)Nix SRT occurs from the change in the easy direction of
INTERMAG 2006

magnetization [EMD] from [111] direction to [110] and then to intermediate [uvw] and then to
[100] direction. Extending these to the present case, around 205 K, there is a change in the EMD
from [111] to [uvw], around 170 K from [uvw] to [110], around 80 K the change in the EMD is
from [110] to [uvw] and around 50 K from [uvw] to [100]. In the case of x = 1 an order disorder transition is observed around 250 K and two transitions from dc magnetization measurements
one around 70 K and second around 40 K are observed. The ac susceptibility also shows the orderdisorder transition and a weak transition at 150 K. The transition around 150 K may be due to the
change in EMD from [111] to [u,v,w], around 110 K may be from [111] to [uvw] and the transition around 60 K may be from [uvw] to [100] direction.
The temperature variation of electrical resistivity exhibits a metallic behavior with a change in
slope near the Curie temperature. The resistivity behavior is explained on the basis of electronmagnon scattering at low temperatures and s-d scattering and electron-phonon interactions at high
temperatures.
1. K. H. J. Buschow, Rep. Prog. Phys. 40, 1179 (1977)
2. M. Shiga, Physica B, 149, 293 (1988)
3. J. Arout Chelvane, S. Kasiviswanathan and G. Markandeyulu, J. Magn. Magn. Mater., 277, 175
(2004)
4. J. Arout Chelvane, G. Markandeyulu, N. Harish Kumar, R. Nirmala and S. K. Malik, Phys. Rev.
B, 72, 092406-1 (2005)
5. M. Senthil Kumar, K.V. Reddy, K.V.S. Rama Rao and T. P. Das, Phys. Rev. B 52, 6542 (1995)
6. M. Senthil Kumar, K.V. Reddy and K.V.S. Rama Rao J. Alloys and Compounds, 242, 70 (1996)

Fig. 1 Spin reorientation transitions for compositions x = 0.5 and 1

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