Laboratoire Léon Brillouin
UMR12 CEA-CNRS, Bât. 563 CEA Saclay
91191 Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France
+33-169085241 llb-sec@cea.fr
V. Paul-Boncour, S.M. Filipek, R. Sato, R. Wierzbicki, G. André, F. Porcher, M. Reissner, G. Wiesinger
RMn2−xFexD6 compounds were obtained by applying a deuterium pressure of several kbar to RMn2−xFex compounds for x≤0.2 and R=Y, Er. These compounds are isostructural to RMn2D6 compounds and crystallize in a K2PtCl6 type structure with a random substitution of R and half the Mn atoms in the same 8c site whereas the other Mn atoms are located on the 4a site and surrounded by six D atoms (24e site). According to neutron powder diffraction analysis the Fe atoms are preferentially substituted on the 4a site. YMn2−xFexD6 compounds are paramagnetic and their molar susceptibility follows a modified Curie–Weiss law. ErMn2−xFexD6 compounds display a ferromagnetic behavior at 2 K, but their saturation magnetization (MS4.0 μB/f.u.) is half that of their parent compounds (MS8.0 μB/f.u.). The neutron diffraction patterns of ErMn1.8Fe0.2D6 display below 13 K both ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic short range order, which can be related to a disordered distribution of Er moments. The paramagnetic temperatures of ErMn2−xFexD6 compounds are negative and decrease versus the Fe content whereas they are positive and increase for their parent compounds.