Mixed ordering in PdMn alloys

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Abstract
The AC susceptibility and electrical resistivity of five PdMn alloys containing between 3.0 and 5.0at%Mn have been measured down to 1.4K. The AC susceptibility, taken in various collinear biasing fields, exhibits a complicated behaviour; at 3 at%Mn the general features of such data resemble those obtained on more dilute alloys of the ferromagnetic phase of this system, but a detailed comparison leads the authors to suggest that the true ferromagnetic phase terminates in the vicinity of 2.5at%Mn. The 4 and 4.5 at% Mn exhibit a double-peaked structure, while the 5 at%Mn sample behaves in a manner reminiscent of a spin glass. The electrical resistivity data can be understood in a similar manner, with the relatively sharp change in slope of the incremental resistivity of the 3 at% Mn alloy close to the ordering temperature evolving into a featureless behaviour at 5 at% Mn, the latter being consistent with a gradual freezing of impurity spins characteristic of spin glasses.