Crystal field effects in the intermetallic RNi3Ga9 (R=Tb, Dy, Ho, and Er) compounds
- Silva, L.S.
- Mercena, S.G.
- Garcia, Daniel Julio
- Bittar, E. M.
- Jesus, C. B. R.
- Pagliuso, P. G.
- Lora Serrano, R.
- Meneses, C.T.
- Duque, J.G.S.
DOIAbstract
In this paper, we report temperature-dependent magnetic susceptibility, electrical resistivity, and heat-capacity experiments in the family of intermetallic compounds RNi3Ga9 (R = Tb, Dy, Ho, and Er). Single-crystalline samples were grown using Ga self-flux method. These materials crystallize in a trigonal ErNi3Al9-type structure with space group R32. They all order antiferromagnetically with TN<20K. The anisotropic magnetic susceptibility presents large values of the ratio χeasy/χhard indicating strong crystalline electric-field (CEF) effects. The evolution of the crystal-field scheme for each R was analyzed in detail by using a spin model including anisotropic nearest-neighbor Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interaction and the trigonal CEF...
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