Magnetostriction and magnetisation measurements are made on a polycrystalline sample of the cubic Laves phase compound CeFe, in pulsed magnetic fields up to 18 T and over the temperature range 5 to 300 K. A sharp increase in magnetostriction is observed at fields of about 3 T and a t temperatures below 150 K. The magnitude of the first-order change in strain increases with decreasing temperature and a t 5 K i t amounts to approximately 150 x which is a 200% increase in the para.lle1 magnetostriction. The critical field for the transition decreases slowly with decreasing temperature. The corresponding change in magnetisation is of the order of 8% a t 5 K. It is proposed that this transition corresponds to a first-order rotation of the magnetisation vector due to a particular combination of anisotropy constants. I n particular, the effect of the eighth-order constant K3 which also leads to a non-symmetry easy direction above 150 K, is likely to be important.
Des mesures de magnbtostriction et d'aimantation ont B t 4 effectuees sur un Bchantillon poly-Nous en concluons que cette transition correspond A une rotation de premier ordre du vector d'aimantation, due A une wmbinaison particulibre de constantes d'anisotropie. En particulier, l'effet de la constante de huitibme ordre K3 qui conduit h i aussi b une direction facile de nonsymmbtrie au-dessus de 150 K, est sans doute important.
While investigating the high field magnetostriction of the highly magnetostrictive cubic laves phase compounds of the type RFe2 a sharp increase in the magnetostriction of polycrystalline CeFe2 was observed at fields of around 3 T and at temperatures below 150K. The first order change in strain increases with decreasing temperature and at 5K it amounts to approximately 150×10−6 which corresponds to a 200% increase in the parallel magnetostriction. The field at which the transition occurs decreases slowly with decreasing temperature. Magnetisation curves also show signs of a first order increase at the same fields but the change in magnetisation is only of the order of 8% at 5K.
Above approximately 150K the easy-direction of CeFe2 changes1 from [100] to a non-symmetry direction of the type [uuw]. This can be accounted for if the third order cubic anisotropy constant (K3) is significant. A tentative explanation for the observed discontinuities is presented in terms of first-order rotations of the magnetisation vector, made possible by relatively large values of K3.
1U. Atzmony and M. P. Dariel, Phys. Rev. B. 13, 4006 (1976).
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