Magnetic structures in RNi{sub 2}B{sub 2}C (R = Ho, Er) superconductors

Single crystal neutron diffraction techniques have been employed to study the evolution of magnetic structures in RNi{sub 2}B{sub 2}C compounds in an attempt to understand the relationship between magnetic ordering and superconductivity in several members of this series. For HoNi{sub 2}B{sub 2}C, below the superconducting transition (T{sub c} = 8 K), an incommensurate magnetic structure characterized by two wave vectors (0.585 a* and 0.915 c*) is found in a narrow temperature range between 4.7 K and 6 K. This is the same temperature range where bulk measurements find a deep minimum in the upper critical field, H{sub c2}. Below 4.7 K, HoNi{sub 2}B{sub 2}C is a simple collinear antiferromagnet. ErNi{sub 2}B{sub 2}C ({Tc} = 11 K) orders in an incommensurate modulated antiferromagnetic state characterized by an ordering wave vector 0.553 a* below 7 K, which coexists with superconductivity