Magnetic phase transitions in intermetallic–interstitial element (H or N) systems: Fundamentals and potentialities

Abstract Fundamentals of magnetic anisotropy and spin-reorientation phase transitions in the R–Fe intermetallic compounds are discussed. The modification and arising the spin reorientation transitions (SRT) caused by the presence of hydrogen and nitrogen atoms in interstitial positions are reviewed for the RFe 11 Ti and the R 2 Fe 17 (R=Y, Sm, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er and Lu) compounds. It was shown the possibility to control magnetic properties of the compounds via the insertion of interstitial atoms. This is of great importance to develop new magnetic materials with given properties.