Temperature-induced itinerant electron metamagnetism

Abstract In multisublattice compounds consisting of a stable and magnetically unstable (metamagnetic) sublattices, the molecular field acting on the latter one, B mol ( met ) , decreases monotonously with increasing temperature. Hence temperature can be considered as an additional external parameter that can drive the magnetic state of the unstable sublattice. If the metamagnetic sublattice is in a high magnetic state at low temperatures, with increasing temperature at a certain critical value Tm the internal field B mol ( met ) ( T m ) becomes equal to the critical field of the metamagnetic transition Bm(Tm). Then, above Tm the metamagnetic sublattice will turn into a low magnetic state. This effect is named a temperature-induced itinerant-electron metamagnetism (TIMT). Recently TIMT has been found in the RCo3 series. In most of these intermetallics, due to a strong intersublattice R-Co molecular field, the Co sublattice is in a high magnetic state at low temperatures and can be changed with increasing temperature into a lower magnetic one at a critical temperature for which B mol ( RCo ) ( T m ) = B m ( T m ) . The experimental results for some RCo3 compounds are presented and discussed.