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Role of4felectrons in crystallographic and magnetic complexity
- Source :
- Physical Review B. 96
- Publication Year :
- 2017
- Publisher :
- American Physical Society (APS), 2017.
-
Abstract
- The functionality of many magnetic materials critically depends on first manipulating and then taking advantage of highly nonlinear changes of properties that occur during phase transformations. Unique to lanthanides, property-defining $4f$ electrons are highly localized and, as commonly accepted, play little to no role in chemical bonding. Yet here we demonstrate that the competition between $4f$-electron energy landscapes of Dy $(4{f}^{9})$ and Er $(4{f}^{11})$ is the key element of the puzzle required to explain complex interplay of magnetic and structural features observed in $\mathrm{E}{\mathrm{r}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}\mathrm{D}{\mathrm{y}}_{x}\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{o}}_{2}$, and likely many other mixed lanthanide systems. Unlike the parent binaries---$\mathrm{DyC}{\mathrm{o}}_{2}$ and $\mathrm{ErC}{\mathrm{o}}_{2}$---$\mathrm{E}{\mathrm{r}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}\mathrm{D}{\mathrm{y}}_{x}\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{o}}_{2}$ exhibits two successive magnetostructural transitions: a first order at ${T}_{\mathrm{C}}$, followed by a second order in the ferrimagnetically ordered state. Supported by first-principles calculations, our results offer new opportunities for targeted design of magnetic materials with multiple functionalities, and also provide a critical insight into the role of $4f$ electrons in controlling the magnetism and structure of lanthanide intermetallics.
Details
- ISSN :
- 24699969 and 24699950
- Volume :
- 96
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Physical Review B
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........e1f35e05a20291dfb7c467831b9a233e