2008/04/30 by C. Meyer, B. J. Ruck, J. Zhong +6
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Magnetic and transport properties of perovskites and related materials #Magnetic properties of thin films #Rare-earth and actinide compounds #cond-mat.str-el
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.78.174406
5 pages, 3 figures
arxiv created 2008/10/16 · openalex publication_date 2008/11/06 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The magnetic behavior of SmN has been investigated in stoichiometric polycrystalline films. All samples show ferromagnetic order with Curie temperature (TC) of 27\ifmmode±\else\textpm\fi3 K, evidenced by the occurrence of hysteresis below TC. The ferromagnetic state is characterized by a very small moment and a large coercive field, exceeding even the maximum applied field of 6 T below about 15 K. The residual magnetization at 2 K, measured after cooling in the maximum field, is 0.035\ensuremathμB per Sm. Such a remarkably small moment results from a near cancellation of the spin and orbital contributions for Sm+3 in SmN. Coupling to an applied field is therefore weak, explaining the huge coercive field. The susceptibility in the paramagnetic phase shows temperature-independent Van Vleck and Curie-Weiss contributions. The Van Vleck contribution is in quantitative agreement with the field-induced admixture of the J=(7)/(2) excited state and the (5)/(2) ground state. The Curie-Weiss contribution returns a Curie temperature that agrees with the onset of ferromagnetic hysteresis, and a conventional paramagnetic moment with an effective moment of 0.4\ensuremathμB per Sm ion, in agreement with expectations for the crystal-field modified effective moment on the Sm+3 ions.