Magnetic properties of the HocY1-cSb system

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Abstract
Magnetisation measurements on the cubic alloy system HocY1-cSb at 1.6K are presented. The results obtained when the field is applied along the easy (100) axis show the presence of an intermediate phase between the high-field, ferromagnetic and the low-field, antiferromagnetic phase in the Ho-rich alloys. First-order transitions are observed when the field is along the hard (110) or (111) axes. The variation of the Neel temperature TN, with Ho concentration, c, has been determined by magnetisation and electrical resistivity measurements down to c=0.4, and the paramagnetic susceptibility has been measured as a function of temperature and concentration. A molecular-field model is developed which describes accurately most of the magnetic properties of HocY1-cSb system. The two-sublattice calculations presented include the effects of isotropic and anisotropic bilinear pair interactions, acoustic and optical quadrupole couplings and the crystal field. The intermediate phase, present in an applied field along (100) at 1.6K, is predicted to be very similar to the flopside phase of HoP.