Neutron powder diffraction study of the ternary RMgSn (R=Ce–Nd, Tb–Tm, Yb) compounds

P. Lemoine (1) , A. Vernière (1) , G. Venturini (1) , S. Capelli (2) , B. Malaman (1)

1 IJL - Institut Jean Lamour
2 ILL - Institut Laue-Langevin

The ternary intermetallic RMgSn compounds are studied by neutron powder diffraction. The CeScSi-type PrMgSn and NdMgSn compounds present a commensurate antiferromagnetic structure, while the (Tb–Tm)MgSn are characterized by an incommensurate sine-wave modulated magnetic structure, which can tend to a square-modulated arrangement at low temperature due to appearance of higher odd integer harmonics. The TiNiSi-type CeMgSn compound is also characterized by an incommensurate sine-wave modulated magnetic structure, while PrMgSn exhibits a ferromagnetic arrangement with a canting at low temperature. Finally, the ZrNiAl-type YbMgSn compound evidences no magnetic ordering. These results are discussed and compared with those published for the other CeScSi-type compounds.

Domaines: Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]; Matériaux; Cristallographie; Chimie inorganique

P. Lemoine, A. Vernière, G. Venturini, S. Capelli, B. Malaman. Neutron powder diffraction study of the ternary RMgSn (R=Ce–Nd, Tb–Tm, Yb) compounds. Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, 2012, 324 (6), pp.961-976. ⟨10.1016/j.jmmm.2011.09.035⟩. ⟨hal-02356140⟩