Antiferromagnetic ground state in the MnGa$_4$ intermetallic compound

Abstract

Magnetism of the binary intermetallic compound MnGa$_4$ is re-investigated. Band-structure calculations predict antiferromagnetic behavior in contrast to Pauli paramagnetism reported previously. Magnetic susceptibility measurements on single crystals indeed reveal an antiferromagnetic transition at $T_N=393$ K. Neutron powder diffraction and $^{69,71}$Ga nuclear quadrupole resonance spectroscopy show collinear antiferromagnetic order with magnetic moments alligned along the [111] direction of the cubic unit cell. The magnetic moment of 0.80(3)$\mu_B$ at 1.5 K extracted from the neutron data is in good agreement with the band-structure results