Successive Magnetic Transitions in RECoAsO

In order to elucidate the details of successive magnetic transitions in the rare earth cobalt arsenic oxides ( RE CoAsO), we have measured muon-spin rotation and relaxation( μ + SR) spectra of powder samples with RE = La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, and Gd. Together with the result of magnetization measurements, it was found that all the compounds enter into abulk static ferromagnetic ordered phase below around 70 K(= T C ). Furthermore, additional transitions into a static antiferromagnetic ordered phase were found for the RE = Nd, Sm, and Gd compounds; namely T N1 = 15 K and T N2 = 7 K for Nd, T N1 = 41.5 K and T N2 = 17.5 K for Sm, and T N = 3K for Gd.