Neutron-powder-diffraction study of the nuclear and magnetic structures of the antiferromagnetic superconductor HoNi2B2C

Q. Huang; A. Santoro; T. E. Grigereit; J. W. Lynn; R. J. Cava; J. J. Krajewski; W. F. Peck, Jr.

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.51.3701

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Neutron-powder-diffraction study of the nuclear and magnetic structures of the antiferromagnetic superconductor HoNi2B2C

Q. Huang, A. Santoro, T. E. Grigereit, J. W. Lynn, R. J. Cava, J. J. Krajewski, W. F. Peck, Jr.

DOI 10.1103/PhysRevB.51.3701 · Physical Review B

T1

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Abstract

The nuclear and magnetic structures of HoNi2B2C have been investigated by neutron-powder-diffraction methods at room temperature and at 10, 5.1, and 2.2 K. The compound crystallizes with the symmetry of space group I4/mmm and lattice parameters a=3.5170(1) and c=10.5217(3) Å, at room temperature. The structure may be regarded as formed of (HoC) layers with the rock salt configuration alternating with (B)(Ni2)(B) blocks having a fluorite-type arrangement of the atoms. No phase transition of the nuclear structure has been observed down to a temperature of 2.2 K. Magnetic peaks begin to appear at about 8 K. The magnetic structure is the superposition of two configurations, one in which ferromagnetic sheets of holmium spins parallel to the a,b plane are coupled antiferromagnetically along the c axis (magnetic space group Pm’mm’), and another in which ferromagnetic planes are rotated away from the antiparallel configuration to give an incommensurate helicoidal structure with a period approximately equal to 12 times the length of the c axis.

Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval

Formula	Reported Tc (K)	Pressure (GPa)	Type
HoNi2B2C Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula.	7.5	Pressure not reported	unknown
ErNi2B2C Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula.	10.5	Pressure not reported	unknown
TmNi2B2C Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula.	11	Pressure not reported	unknown
LuNi2B2C Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula.	16.6	Pressure not reported	unknown
YNi2B2C Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula.	12.5	Pressure not reported	onset