Antiferromagnetic long-range order caused by nonmagnetic impurities; magnetization of single-crystal Cu1−xZnxGeO3

The magnetization was obtained as a function of temperature and magnetic field of a Cu 1− x Zn x GeO 3 single-crystal with x ∼ 0.04. The temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility in 0.1 T parallel to the c axis shows a clear cusp around 4.5 K and decreases rapidly below 4.5 K. There is no hysteresis between the data measured in zero-field-cooling and field-cooling processes. The field dependence of the magnetization parallel to the c axis at 2.0 K exhibits an apparent increase around 1.0 T, which corresponds to a spin-flop transition. The temperature and field dependences, the anisotropy, and the absence of the hysteresis undoubtedly prove the occurrence of an antiferromagnetic long-range order below 4.5 K instead of the spin-glass-like transition reported previously. Spins below the transition temperature are ordered almost parallel to the c axis. This is the first report of magnetic long-range order caused by nonmagnetic impurities.