Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2006

Journal or Book Title

Journal of Applied Physics

Volume

99

Issue

8

First Page

08P304

DOI

10.1063/1.2173608

Abstract

The variation of magnetization with temperature of the Pr5Ni2Si3 compound was calculated using a nearest neighbor exchange interaction approximation. Pr atoms, which are the only element in this compound with a net magnetic moment, were classified into three types based on the number of nearest neighbor exchange interactions. The expected magnetization versus temperature curve for each type of Pr atom was calculated using the Brillouin function, as well as the average magnetization versus temperature curve for the entire unit cell. The results show that the “corner” atoms exhibit very different behavior from that of the other types of Pr atoms on the “center” or “edge” sites. This is due to the broken symmetry in exchange interaction at the corner site due to interactions with atoms from outside the unit cell that are in closer proximity than atoms within the unit cell. This is considered to be the cause of a second magnetic phase transition observed at a lower temperature than the Curie temperature.

Comments

The following article appeared in Journal of Applied Physics 99 (2006): 08P304 and may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.2173608.

Rights

Copyright 2006 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics.

Copyright Owner

American Institute of Physics

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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