Correlation between magnetostriction and magnetic structure in pseudobinary compounds Tb(Co1-xFex)2

Giant low-field magnetostriction has been achieved in pseudobinary Laves phase compounds RR’T2 (R and R’: rare earth elements; T: transition metal elements) around the ferromagnetic - ferromagnetic (ferro.-ferro.) transition temperature. Evolution of the magnetic structure across such transition requires comprehensive investigation. In this work, pseudobinary system Tb(Co1-xFex)2 is selected to investigate the evolution of local magnetic moment, for which two end terminals TbCo2 and TbFe2 possess the rhombohedral (R) structure at the ferromagnetic state but with different magnetic ordering temperatures (TC). Magnetometry measurements reveal that a composition independent ferromagnetic - ferromagnetic transition occurs at ∼100 K despite the increased Curie temperature TC with raised Fe concentration in the Tb(Co1-xFex)2. Synchrotron XRD data reveal that both the lattice parameter and the lattice strain along the <111> direction are abnormally temperature dependent, accompanied with experimentally observed magnetostriction abnormality at 100 K. In-situ neutron powder diffraction (NPD) results show that the local magnetic moments of T2 (9e site) atoms are also abnormally temperature dependent, which is larger at 100 K than that at a lower temperature 50 K. Such findings indicate close correlations between the magnetic structure and the magnetostrictive effect in the pseudobinary RT2 compounds.