Spin reorientations in single crystal HoAl2

Abstract
Torque measurements have been performed on single crystal HoAl2 compound in order to examine the origin of the 20 K specific heat anomaly that occurs in polycrystalline HoAl2. The experimental results indicate the anomaly is due to a spin reorientation between the [110] and [100] in the (100) plane as the temperature is increased. Crystal field calculations suggest the transition should be of the first order; however, torque measurements show that the transition takes place continuously over a finite temperature range.

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