Transition from Mixed-Valence to Trivalent Cerium State in Ce(Ni,Cu)Al Series

In this work we present the study of the part of Ce(Ni,Cu)Al series from the pure CeNiAl to 30% of copper concentration, which illustrates the transition from mixed-valence state of CeNiAl to the trivalent state in CeCuAl. The work is based on X-ray diffraction, magnetization and specific heat measurement. The results indicate smooth transition between the mixed-valence and trivalent cerium state. The specific-heat data reveal increase of the Sommerfeld γ coefficient with copper concentration

Metal-insulator transition and the Pr3+^{3+}/Pr4+^{4+} valence shift in (Pr1−y_{1-y}Yy_{y})0.7_{0.7}Ca0.3_{0.3}CoO3_3

The magnetic, electric and thermal properties of the ($Ln_{1-y}$Y$_{y}$)$_{0.7}$Ca$_{0.3}$CoO$_3$ perovskites ($Ln$~=~Pr, Nd) were investigated down to very low temperatures. The main attention was given to a peculiar metal-insulator transition, which is observed in the praseodymium based samples with $y=0.075$ and 0.15 at $T_{M-I}=64$ and 132~K, respectively. The study suggests that the transition, reported originally in Pr$_{0.5}$Ca$_{0.5}$CoO$_3$, is not due to a mere change of cobalt ions from the intermediate- to the low-spin states, but is associated also with a significant electron transfer between Pr$^{3+}$ and Co$^{3+}$/Co$^{4+}$ sites, so that the praseodymium ions occur below $T_{M-I}$ in a mixed Pr$^{3+}$/Pr$^{4+}$ valence. The presence of Pr$^{4+}$ ions in the insulating phase of the yttrium doped samples (Pr$_{1-y}$Y$_{y}$)$_{0.7}$Ca$_{0.3}$CoO$_3$ is evidenced by Schottky peak originating in Zeeman splitting of the ground state Kramers doublet. The peak is absent in pure Pr$_{0.7}$Ca$_{0.3}$CoO$_3$ in which metallic phase, based solely on non-Kramers Pr$^{3+}$ ions, is retained down to the lowest temperature.Comment: 10 figure

Magnetodielectric effect and optic soft mode behaviour in quantum paraelectric EuTiO3 ceramics

Infrared reflectivity and time-domain terahertz transmission spectra of EuTiO3 ceramics revealed a polar optic phonon at 6 - 300K, whose softening is fully responsible for the recently observed quantum paraelectric behaviour. Even if our EuTiO3 ceramics show lower permittivity than the single crystal due to a reduced density and/or small amount of secondary pyrochlore Eu2Ti2O7 phase, we confirmed the magnetic field dependence of the permittivity, also slightly smaller than in single crystal. Attempt to reveal the soft phonon dependence at 1.8K on the magnetic field up to 13T remained below the accuracy of our infrared reflectivity experiment

Infrared and magnetic characterization of the multiferroic Bi2FeCrO6 thin films in a broad temperature range

Infrared reflectance spectra of an epitaxial Bi2FeCrO6 thin film prepared by pulsed laser deposition on LaAlO3 substrate were recorded between 10 and 900 K. No evidence for a phase transition to the paraelectric phase was observed, but some phonon anomalies were revealed near 600 K. Most of the polar modes exhibit only a gradual softening, which results in a continuous increase of the static permittivity on heating. It indicates that the ferroelectric phase transition should occur somewhere above 900 K. Magnetic measurements performed up to 1000 K, revealed a possible magnetic phase transition between 600 and 800 K, but the exact critical temperature cannot be determined due to a strong diamagnetic signal from the substrate. Nevertheless, our experimental data show that the B-site ordered Bi2FeCrO6 is one of the rare high-temperature multiferroics.Comment: subm. to PR

Heat capacity studies of magnetic phase transition in sodium-rich NaxCoO₂ (0.73 ≤ x ≤ 0.87)

Specific heat measurements in the temperature region from 2 to 50 K in magnetic field up to 10 T, oriented parallel and perpendicularly to the CoO₂ layers were carried out on a series of high-quality single- crystals of NaxCoO₂ (x = 0.73, 0.76, 0.77, 0.78 and 0.87). Surprisingly, sharp lambda type anomaly was observed only for the concentration x = 0.76 at temperature (21.80 ± 0.02) K, for all the remaining doping levels round anomaly in experimental data was visible at temperature ~ 20 K, indicating a smeared magnetic phase transition. While the magnetic field oriented perpendicularly to the CoO₂ layers shifts the temperature of this anomaly to lower values, parallel magnetic field has no influence on it, what indirectly supports the idea of A-type antiferromagnetic ordering in studied systems

Magnetic Phase Transitions in TbNi(Al,In) Compounds

The magnetic phase transitions in $TbNiAl_{1-x}In_{x}$ compounds were investigated by ac-susceptibility measurements. Our data reveal magnetic ordering with transition temperatures between 40 and 70 K, depending on the In concentration. All the studied compounds exhibit two or more phase transitions accompanied by distinct anomalies in the real and imaginary part of the ac-susceptibility. The paramagnetic Curie temperatures remain positive in the whole series

Transition from Mixed-Valence to Trivalent Cerium State in Ce(Ni,Cu)Al Series

In this work we present the study of the part of Ce(Ni,Cu)Al series from the pure CeNiAl to 30% of copper concentration, which illustrates the transition from mixed-valence state of CeNiAl to the trivalent state in CeCuAl. The work is based on X-ray diffraction, magnetization and specific heat measurement. The results indicate smooth transition between the mixed-valence and trivalent cerium state. The specific-heat data reveal increase of the Sommerfeld γ coefficient with copper concentration

Structural and Magnetic Properties of the PrNi1−xCuxAlPrNi_{1-x}Cu_{x}Al Series

Polycrystalline samples of $PrNi_{1-x}Cu_{x}Al$ series were studied by X-ray diffraction, magnetization and specific heat. The hexagonal ZrNiAl-type structure is preserved in the whole series. Compounds with x up to 0.4 order antiferromagnetically with the Néel temperatures between 3 and 5 K. The rest of the compounds (x = 0.5-0.9) exhibits a transition into a spin glass state below the freezing temperatures around 4 K. The analysis of the specific heat data reveals a quasi-doublet ground state well separated from higher crystal field levels in the whole series

Magnetic Anisotropy of Lu2Co17−xSixLu_2Co_{17-x}Si_x Single Crystals

Magnetic anisotropy of $Lu_2Co_{17-x}Si_x$ single crystals grown by the Czochralski method was investigated. The homogeneity range of Si substitution for Co extends up to x = 3.4 in $Lu_2Co_{17-x}Si_x$ solid solutions. The unit cell volume, Curie temperature, and spontaneous magnetic moment decrease monotonously with increasing Si content. $Lu_2Co_{17}$ has the easy-plane type of magnetic anisotropy in the ground state, which changes into the easy-axis type by two spin-reorientation transitions of the second-order, the easy-plane-easy-cone at $T_{SR1}$~680 K and the easy-cone - easy-axis at $T_{SR2}$~730 K. Upon Si substitution, the observed spin-reorientations shift towards the lower temperatures for $Lu_2Co_{17-x}Si_x$ $(T_{SR1}$~75 K and $T_{SR2}$~130 K in $Lu_2Co_{16}Si$) and vanish for compounds with 1<x≤3.4, which have the uniaxial type of magnetic anisotropy in the whole temperature range of magnetic order