Crystal and magnetic structures of RPdIn (R=Nd, Ho, Er) compounds

Abstract Structural and magnetic properties of the ternary intermetallic compounds RPdIn (R=Nd, Ho, Er) with hexagonal ZrNiAl-type structure are reported. The triangular arrangement of magnetic rare earth ions leads to the geometrical frustration in case of antiferromagnetic interactions. Magnetic-phase transitions were studied by means of neutron powder diffraction experiments. Neutron diffraction measurements indicate ferromagnetic ordering for all investigated RPdIn compounds with transition temperatures of 30 K (R=Nd), 22 K (R=Ho) and 11 K (R=Er). For NdPdIn compounds, a change in the direction of the Nd magnetic moments from the basal plane to the direction of the c -axis was observed. For both HoPdIn and ErPdIn, rare earth magnetic moments are parallel to the c -axis.