Rare-earth/transition-metal materials also offer an excellent opportunity to study and test our basic theories of magnetic interactions, particularly between the localized magnetic moments of the rare earth (lanthanide) atoms and the more itinerant magnetism associated with the transition metals. One rather interesting feature of RE/TM magnets is that they are ferrimagnets, with the spin magnetic moments of the rare earth and transition metal aligning antiparallel to each other through the quantum mechanical exchange interaction. Generally, this exchange interaction is much stronger than magnetic fields achievable in a laboratory. However, using pulsed magnets like those located at the High Field Magnetic Laboratory in Los Alamos, it is possible to produce an external field which is strong enough to overcome the exchange interaction and cause the magnetic moments to cant (tilt), producing a characteristic kink in the magnetization curve. In this work, performed with other members of Warwick's Superconductivity and Magnetism Group, we investigated how this canting behaviour varies with temperature.

Journal reference: J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 30, 32LT01 (2018)

DOI: 10.1088/1361-648X/aad029