Magnetic Properties of Compounds of Manganese with Rare-Earth Elements Having the Cubic Laves Phase Structure

Abstract

In the present work, four cubic Laves‐phase compounds containing manganese were investigated. All four compounds TbMn₂, GdMn₂, DyMn₂, and HoMn₂ were found to have antiferromagnetic coupling. At low temperatures and appropriate magnetic fields, sharp peaks in the magnetization versus temperature curves were obtained. In general, these peaks shifted to lower temperatures as the strength of the magnetic field was increased. In the compound TbMn₂, the peaks strongly persisted even at a field of 14 400 Oe. In addition, the properties of TbMn₂ were drastically affected by cooling in a magnetic field and under these conditions its hysteresis loop was unsymmetrical.